The Unforgiven
by ucat42
Summary: When a great injustice is commited, sometimes something evil is left behind to grow and fester. When one witch sells her soul for a crossroads deal and another binds a god to her service, things get dangerous. And bloody... Hurt!Dean Angst! Set around Season 5 ep 7
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N...here we are again. Unless you've never been here before, then WELCOME!**_

_**This story is for Joan...(You will be in here, girl) and with thanks to Alison for holding me up when I fall over. Which is a lot. **_

_**Probably all the alcohol.**_

_**Anyway, we are set season just after FIVE episode SEVEN : The Curious Case Of Dean Winchester. Only for somewhere to sit the story, it doesn't realate to that one in any plot line. Spoilerish for all seasons before this, but hopefully no big give aways...**_

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><p>Kelli rolled onto her stomach, her pillow held under her chest as she flicked her pigtails around, laughing.<p>

"That is the lamest ghost story I've ever heard!" she chided. "Who knows a _really_ scary story?"

She looked around at her friends. There were four of them, her little sister and herself, all in the converted downstairs basement that made a fantastic family room. They were having a sleep over for her fifteenth birthday.

There had been pizza, makeovers, cake, soft drink and too much candy, now they were all sugared up and way too excited to sleep.

Of course, scary stories were the only way to go!

Zoe jumped up and turned off the lights, the purple mood lamps on the dresser sending the atmosphere into the creepy zone.

"I got one!" Kelli's little sister, Bree exclaimed.

"Psshhh. How would you have a good story?"

Bree screwed her face up at her sister and poked out her tongue. "That new girl in my class, Amy, she told me. You wanna hear it or not?"

Kelli shrugged. "Give it your best shot. If it's not scary, you get super noogies. Deal?"

"Whatever. Anyway, picture this. Two girls, right? They're late home from the library, and it's winter, so it got dark super early, like four thirty – fiveish. They know they're in trouble for being so late, right? So they decide to take a short cut home, through the cemetery"

"Lame!" called Sarah.

"No, wait, it's not!" Bree sat up and propped her pillow against the dresser. "See, they weren't the only ones there"

X

_"Can you see that?" Maryanne whispered, the whole creepiness of the cemetery, soft mist turning the everlasting flames on some graves into a horror movies scene making her voice timid and weak._

_"Yeah, I can hear them, too" Answered Andrea. "I think it's those kids, the ones that always hanging around the drug store"_

_"Well, I don't wanna walk near them, they scare me. Can we go around?"_

_"Only if we can get passed that mausoleum. There's a gate not far from there"_

_Maryanne sighed. "That means we gotta get pretty close" _

_"Just keep quiet, keep behind the headstones, we should be able to get passed without them noticing. I mean, they look pretty stoned and drunk already"_

_The girls crept as quietly as they could, any little noises they made were thankfully covered by the ruckus the smashed teens were making. _

_As they two girls got closer they hid behind the mausoleum as one boy got up to relive himself, too close to them to be able to continue without being spotted. _

_"I tell you" he called back to his friends "I heard it from Jason, it's true. She was a witch. They hung her, skinned her alive and burned her. She cursed everyone that was involved, and anyone that speaks her name in reverse"_

_"What?" called out one of his friends. "That's BS, dude! It's just another twist on the Bloody Mary story!"_

_"Nah, it's true! If you say her name backwards three times, she'll appear outside your house. You're fine, though, if you don't look out the window. If you look out the window, bam, she's got you"_

_"What happens?" Another voice, a girl's this time, asked._

_"Your eyes start bleeding, then your ears, nose, mouth, every orifice in your body starts to bleed. Then even your pores! Like, on your head, your butt, everywhere! Till, you know, you bleed to death. And nothing, I'm talking _nothing,_ can save you!"_

_"That's wack. I don't believe it. Dude, it's not even scary"_

_"Let's try it. How would you say her name backwards?"_

_"Well, its Celia Goodwife. So, what we have to figure out how to pronounce that backwards?"_

_"Or do we just say Goodwife, Celia?"_

_"Try both. Goodwife, Celia. Goodwife, Celia. Goodwife, Celia"_

_"Great, now how do we..."_

_That voice was cut off by the sudden rumble of the ground, like a small earthquake. The cemetery shook briefly, and the wind swept up, suddenly, and circled around the group of teens, extinguishing their candles and sending papers and empty candy wrappers flying._

_Girls squealed and gasped, then silence fell as the rumbling stoped, the wind died down just as suddenly as it had picked up, and for a moment silence enveloped the grave yard._

_One of the teens laughed, a nervous, shaky sound, but it relieved the tension, and the others joined in, their whoops and squeals releasing the fear that had descended. _

_The two girls took this opportunity to make a break for the gate, the managed to run from the cemetery unnoticed._

_"That was, wow" Maryanne gasped as they pulled up, panting, a full block from the graveyard._

_"I know, right?" Andrea gasped. "Thank god we got out of there! Gave me the willies!"_

_The girls hurried to their respective houses, they lived across the road from each other so no one had to walk anywhere alone. _

_Maryanne was getting ready for bed when the scratching from outside her window disturbed her. She had a cat, Mr Wiggles, and he usually clawed at the glass for her to let him in so he could snuggle at the foot of her bed._

_She pulled the blinds over to open the window and fell back in fright as a face looked in at her._

_It was a woman, no, a girl, and she was looking back at Maryanne with the saddest expression._

_Her face was white and her hair was wet, she was wearing a night dress or hospital gown, in the dark it was very hard to see._

_"Dad!" screamed Maryanne. "There's someone outside! Quick!"_

_As she watched the girl looked down, then back up at her. There was blood dripping from her eyes. _

_It trickled down her face as it mixed with the drops of light rain that had fallen, and she shook her head, slowly, sadly, and waved goodbye._

_Maryanne's dad came running into the room and grabbed his daughter's shoulders._

_"What happened? What's going on?" he demanded._

_"There's someone outside, a girl, my age I think. Dad, I think she's hurt"_

_Her father moved to the window and looked through, then opened it, poking his head through he called out "Hello?" into the night._

_He pulled his head back and closed the window, locking it tightly._

_"There's no one there, honey" he said as he turned, his expression turning quickly form confusion to horror. "What's the matter with you?" he cried._

_Maryanne felt something drip and as she looked down at her night dress she saw spots of blood. She looked at the window, her reflection looking back at her. _

_She was bleeding from her eyes, and as she watched, her nose and ears started to bleed, and she could taste the coppery warmth spreading through her mouth, and felt it trickling down her leg._

_Maryanne started to scream as her father gathered her up in his arms and rushed her from the room._

X

"What happened then?" Kelli asked, breathless now as she was caught up in the story.

Bree smiled, please that she had the rapt attention of the five older girls. "They rushed her to the hospital, but it was no good. She died. Nothing they could do to stop the bleeding. And everyone who was at the cemetery died, too. All except Andrea"

"What happened to Andrea?" asked Darci, a tiny little blonde girl sitting near Bree.

"She went to bed with her headphones on. Straight to sleep, she didn't look out her window. So, the witch didn't curse her"

"Oh my God! If I looked out my window and someone was there, well, I think I'd just die!" Squealed Sarah.

Kelli threw a pillow at her. "Duh! That's the point, stupid!"

They all laughed until Darci stood up. "Can anyone hear that?"

"Not funny, Darci!"

"No, girls, really, listen! Someone is scratching at the window!"

The giggling teenagers fell silent.

Sure enough, a barely heard squeal of what sounded like nails against the window.

Kelli stood up. "That's not funny! Who's doing that?"

No one spoke as she looked around at her friends, their eyes almost luminous in the purple glow of the mood lamps.

Darci moved towards the curtained window.

"Don't open it!" Screamed Zoe.

"Oh my god, you big freaks!" Bree laughed. "This is the basement, the window looks out over the garage, sillies, and my dog is there. No one gets passed a Rottweiler!" She marched to the window and flung the curtain open.

Everyone screamed as they saw a young girl, maybe only a year or two older than them, standing there, her hair hanging dank and limp around her shoulders, her dirty white night dress torn and stained. She looked at them sadly as they screamed, backing up from the window, and waved goodbye.

Darci was the only one standing, not screaming, she stood frozen in fear as she watched the girl, now bleeding from her eyes and mouth, blood dripping down her pale face to splash over her night dress, her expression one of great sadness.

Darci turned to the other girls who were clinging together, pushed as far as they could against the far wall. She felt something drip down her chin and raised her palm, a little confused at the blood spatters she caught there.

She looked up at the girls and their screaming grew in intensity as Darci opened her mouth, blood spilling down the front of her brightly printed pyjamas.

X

X

X

X

"I'm agent Vander, this is Agent Young" Dean flicked his ID badge at the uniformed security guard who was manning the reception desk. "Homeland Security"

"Yes sir!" The security guard looked suitably impressed, and Dean turned to Sam and gave him a little smile. Their lives were so much easier when they had an eager beaver on their side.

"I'll, um, I'll just get you some passes, okay? I won't be long!" and he sprung off his chair and near flew out of the small office door.

"I'd say he has aspirations of being a Homeland Security agent" Sam smiled back at Dean.

They waited in the small foyer, the formaldehyde and bleach aroma almost overpowering. This green linoleum floored ante room was similar to a hundred other's coroner's offices they'd seen, and it smelled about the same.

The chemicals could never quite cover the stench of death.

The door to the little office slammed open and the security guard nearly fell over his own chair. Both Winchesters had to bite hard on the side of their cheeks to stop laughing.

He leaned forward and squeezed the two passes out through the small gap in the window, the visitors passes were cheerily hanging on bright, florescent pink lanyards, which looked a treat once the boys had them swinging around their necks.

Dean pointed to the only other door and the guard nodded. "Yeah, go through. Doc's waitin' for yah"

The door squealed eerily as the two tall men passed through, the gloomy corridor beyond led them to a stainless steel door.

The coroner's office was inside.

The doc was waiting for them, a grim smile planted on his narrow face.

He was a tall man, easily as tall as Sam, and thin as a rail. He wore sloppy, loose fitting track pants that were ill matched with his crisp white button up shirt and jaunty bright purple bow tie.

He extended his hand to Sam, then Dean, greeting them warmly with a firm handshake.

"Vander and Young?" he raised a brow, and Dean chose not to comment.

"Yes, Doctor...ah.." Sam showed his dimples.

"Just call me Doc. Everyone does. Even the wife" he turned to the wall lined with the familiar cold storage cabinets that housed the cadavers. "You boys homeland security, Mardy said"

"Yes sir, that we are" Dean followed the thin man. "Boys back at H.O. are worried this might be a chemical agent, something a terrorist might have put out there"

Doc turned back to him, his pencil thin brows raised. "That would explain it, I guess. God knows I can't find any reason these girls died. No contagion, tox screen clear, I have no clue. None" He pulled open a door without turning around and then slid the sheet covered body out.

"Not even their stomach contents explains anything. Truth is, I'm at a loss. Symptoms presented like some kind of Ebola virus, but these girls are healthy. I mean, before they died"

The Winchesters sidled up to the body, she had come from a waist high door and they waited for the Doc to uncover her.

Doc pulled the light blue sheet back to reveal the young girl, her pale, almost translucent skin standing out in stark contrast to her vibrant red hair. She was naked to the waist, a large 'Y' in black stitches on her chest.

"Bled out her entire blood supply. Completely exsanguinated. All five of them."

"Um, five?" Sam pulled out his notebook. "I thought there were six girls at the party"

Doc pulled the sheet back over the girls and slid her back, closing the door on her.

"I only got five bodies. The other girl is still alive. I did her bloods and tests, all pathology is the same. Nothing wrong here"

"Except that they're all dead, and she's not" Sam closed his note pad.

Doc leaned back against the cabinets. "Yeah. Except for that" He handed Sam a sheet of paper with the girls

The brother's thanked him and left, handing in their passes to Mardy as they left.

"I dunno, dude, it's weird, I'll give you that, but is it our kind of weird?"

Sam ran his hand through his bangs, brushing them from his eyes. "You don't think it could be a sign of the apocalypse? Maybe a horseman type thing?"

Dean unlocked the car and slid behind the driver's wheel as he loosened his tie. "I guess, but which one? To me, if it's anything, sounds more like a Bloody Mary type curse"

Sam shrugged off his jacket and threw it in the back seat. "Yeah. We should talk to the girl, the last one left. Says here" He pulled the folded paper from his shirt pocket that Doc had given him "That she is still in the hospital. Shock, under observation"

Dean yawned. "Where's the hospital?"

Sam frowned. "How can you be tired? You slept eleven hours!"

Dean tipped his head sideways. "Drunken coma is not sleep, Sammy boy. And eleven hours is too long. You shoulda woken me"

Sam shrugged. "Wasn't gonna poke the bear, Dean"

"Fine. Whatever" Dean scratched his stubbly cheek. "Where to?"

"One Twenty north street" Sam looked further down the paper. "She's in the children's ward."

"Well, we're stopping for coffee first. I need to caffeinate. And carbohydrate. Let's find something on the way"

He started the car and pulled from the curb. Sam lifted his computer from the bag and let it fire up as they drove.

"Gonna be hard to research with the small amount of info we got"

"True. I aint ever heard of this kinda thing before. Apart from the movies. That, um, what was that movie, where they had that bleeding disease?"

"Ebola?"

"No, that's the disease, not the movie" Dean pulled up outside a street side café. "Bacon muffins. Weird" He pointed to the daily specials board.

Sam closed his computer but took it with him. "So, five girls all dead at the one party, one survivor. Little witch? Cursed object? Spell gone wrong?"

Dean pulled out a chair and sat, then moved it around the table to get out of the glare of the mid morning sun. Sam sat opposite him then did the same.

He flipped open his computer as the waiter came up to them.

Dean ordered breakfast for both of them and asked the young waiter to grab him the morning paper from inside. The boy didn't speak much, but was helpful.

"So my money is on spell gone wrong. Kids playing with things way beyond their control" Dean pulled a pair of sunglasses from his pocket and slipped them on.

"Yeah. Maybe. I'll check"

Sam typed for a while, scrolling through various web pages as the waiter brought their bacon muffins and coffee. He handed Dean the paper he had been clutching under his arm, and pointed to the headline. _Girls Die In Horror Sleepover. _

_"S_ee that?" The boy asked.

Dean tipped his head back to look at the boy over his sunglasses. "Yeah, sure do"

"Same thing happened over in the next town, bout eight months ago. They couldn't find a reason either"

Dean pulled his glasses off as Sam looked up from his research.

"Really?"

"Yeah. My cousin, he died there. Bled out. Same thing. It was horrible"

Dean pulled out a twenty and sat it on the table. "What's your name?"

The waiter looked at the money. "It's Jeremy. And I'll tell you without the money, though I'd sure appreciate a tip" the boy looked back into the café. "Let me just make sure no orders are waiting, I'll be back."

Sam looked at his laptop. "Found it. Here...it says, yeah, pretty much the same thing. Kids were all in a sleep out at a friend's house and they all were dead by morning. Parents found the bodies...and there was a survivor. Girl curled up in the corner, in shock, treated at the local hospital."

Dean picked up his coffee. "Any more on the girl?"

Sam flicked through the pages, then looked up at Dean. "Nada. Here comes our boy"

The waiter pulled a chair over and sat. "I'm on a break" he explained and lit up a small cigarette, that had a very distinctive odour. Dean grinned but Sam pulled his badge out.

"Bummer. But this is for medicinal purposes" Jeremy told him.

Sam raised a brow but put his badge away. "Your cousin, he was one of the teenagers that died?"

Jeremy nodded. "They were hanging out in a cemetery, a bunch of them, drinking, smoking, you know, just having fun, and one of them starts telling this scary story about a witch or something, if you call her you get cursed."

"Let me guess" Dean leaned forward a little. "They called her, didn't they?"

The boy shrugged. "Guess so. My other cousin, the sister to the one that died, she survived. But she doesn't like to talk about it. I only know what I heard when I went to visit her. There was some councillor talking to her." He dragged on his smoke and blew out a long stream of blue circles. "She was pretty shook up. Doesn't go out much, doesn't talk to people much. We hardly see her anymore"

He flicked his but over the table into the gutter. "Look, Mr Fed type guys, I don't know what happened, but it fucked up my cousin's life, and it took my other cousin from us. I'm an only child, they were like my brother and sister before this. If you can find out what's happening, and stop it, I'll help where ever I can." He pulled a card out from his pocked as he stood. "I wrote down her name and address. Don't tell her I sent you. Hard enough getting her to talk to me now, I don't wanna push her over the edge"

"Hey, thanks, man" Dean told him, holding the twenty up to him. Jeremy gave him a whisper of a smile before tucking the note into his pocket.

"I'm here, every morning, even weekends" he told them as he walked back into the café.

"Well, two leads. Let's finish up here and check out hospital chick"

Sam nodded and drank his coffee as he scrolled through a bit more on the computer. "If we see the hospital girl in an hour or so we can get to the next town by dark"

Dean stood and threw some crumpled bills on the table. "Fine. Let's roll"

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><p><em><strong>AN...well, if you have followed my stories, you know the drill! Reviews are mandatory. I know, bit of a pain, but you can leave 'em quickly, and don't even have to sign in!**_

_**Next chapter in a week or less. **_

_**Reviews DO encourage me to write. Proven fact.**_

_**I have other stories, all completed, that you can read while you wait!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N...Gosh, I don't know. I think I used up all my words writing the chaper...**_

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><p>"We're here" Dean looked up at the door number, written above the door frame. "This is the room"<p>

Sam nodded and took out his little notebook. "Her name is Bree Maynard" He ran a hand through his hair. "Little sister to the party girl, she's only thirteen"

The men entered the darkened room. All of the curtains were pulled and had been taped around the edges to stop them from being opened. Only a small bed side lamp provided any illumination.

There was a lady sitting in an armchair by the bed, she was holding the hand of the girl, who looked pale and drawn, and much younger than her thirteen years.

"Excuse me? Ma'am?" Sam held up his badge, making sure his face was reflecting nothing but sympathy and understanding.

The woman looked up at him, her eyes rimmed red, her brow furrowed.

"Um, Mrs. Maynard? I'm Agent Young, this is my partner, Agent Vander. The nurse said, if it was all right with you, that we could ask Bree some questions"

She shrugged. "I guess. Bree, honey? Do you think you could talk to these gentlemen?"

Bree looked at the men. She had no expression on her face. She seemed perhaps stunned, or maybe medicated.

She nodded, her hand still clutching tight to her mother's.

Dean pulled a chair over to his brother, aware that Sam's height may be intimidating, and he stepped back to stand near the door.

"Bree, my partner and I are investigating what happened at the party the other night. Can you tell us what happened?"

"There was someone at the window. I opened the curtains. I didn't look, I was too scared. I had my back turned, all I could hear was everyone screaming so I ran to them, I grabbed a pillow and covered up my face. I didn't look up until everyone stopped screaming"

A single tear dripped down her face. "It's all my fault" she whispered.

Sam gave her an encouraging look. "Why do you think it was your fault, Bree?"

Another tear trickled down her face. "I told them the story. The story about the witch, if you say her name backwards three times she appears, and you bleed to death." She started to sob. "I didn't mean it. I just wanted to fit in"

"Um, Bree? Where did you get this story from?"

Her mother stood and placed her arms around her daughter. "I think she's had enough" she said as Bree started to sob even harder.

"If she could tell us just that one thing..."

Bree's mother glared at him, a tear streaking down her own face. "Agent! She's had enough! She watched her sister and friends bleed to death in front of her!"

"I'm sorry ma'am, really, but we want to stop this happening to anyone else. If we could just find out who told Bree that story..."

Mrs. Maynard stood and pointed at him. "Get out! Leave us alone! Can't you see we've been through too much already?"

Sam stood and backed out the door, bumping into a man and a young boy standing there. They moved back into the hallway with Sam and Dean.

The man shook their hands. "I'm Bree's dad, this is my son, Alex"

"I'm sorry" Sam told him. "We're just trying to figure out what happened."

"I know" Mr. Maynard looked down at his feet. "It was terrible. Shocking, horrible, I hope to never see anything like that again. But I also don't want anyone else to go through that" He looked up at Sam. "I don't know what we can do to help."

Dean looked at the son, a sweet looking boy of perhaps ten or eleven. "Alex? Do you know who told your sister that story?"

The boy looked at his dad for support, and his father nodded at him and placed his hand on the young fellows shoulder.

He turned his large eyes to Dean and nodded his head. "I was there. When they told her"

Dean squatted down in front of the boy. "Who told her, Alex?"

"It was the new girl. Her name is Tanya. She's in Bree's class"

Dan gave the boy a nod. "What else happened, Alex?"

The father looked surprise. "What do you mean?"

Dean looked the boy in the eye. "You know something else, don't you, Alex?"

The boy nodded. He grabbed his father's hand and held tight. "I heard them. That night, I was hiding out in the garage, and I was listening to them. I heard what they were talking about, the whole story"

"Did you hear what the name was they called? The one they said backwards?"

Alex nodded. "I heard it"

"Do you think you can tell me it?"

The boy shook his head. "They said if you say it backwards three times, that she comes to curse you"

Dean nodded. "Well, then, well be careful not to do that, now won't we? We'll just say it once, and not backwards. How's that sound?"

Alex looked nervous, but the earnest face before him gave him the confidence to speak.

"Celia" He squeezed his father's hand. "Her last name was funny. It was good woman, something like that"

"Goodwife?" Sam asked.

Alex nodded. "That's all I heard. About her name, I mean. See, then I got scared and ran inside. But before I went in...I saw...um..."

Mr. Maynard squatted down next to Dean. "What, son? What did you see?"

The boy's bottom lip started to quiver, his eyes filling with tears. "I saw this white, sort of swirly thing, it was like a ghost"

"You saw a ghost?" Alex's dad exclaimed.

"I don't know! It was like, I don't know, like white smoke, maybe?"

Dean reached out and touched the boy's arm very lightly. "Did it take shape? Did it look like anything? A girl, or a lady?"

The boy shook his head. "No, all I saw was the smoke. By the time I got inside the girls were already screaming. I opened the door and I..." he started to sob and fell forward into his father's arms. Mr. Maynard stood, lifting his son with him.

"I'm sorry, officers, I thought he would be more help"

Dean stood and gave the man a supportive nod. "It's okay. He's probably helped more than he knows."

"Thank you. And our deepest sympathies" Sam added as they left the grieving family.

"So, demon?" Dean asked once they were out of earshot.

"Dunno. Smoke was white. Maybe it's a ghost? Vengeful spirit?"

"Sounds like" Dean pulled his car keys from his pocket as they left the hospital.

"How come it didn't take the boy? He saw it, up close" Sam shook his head. "This is weird"

"Let's go visit that girl, and the cemetery. Oh, and Sam, how did you know what her last name would be?"

"That's a common term from early American history. Round the time of the Salem witch trials"

Dean frowned. "Not a witch. Please tell me this is _not_ a witch hunt"

Sam smirked. "Every time you say that, we turn out to be hunting a witch"

"Please tell me this is not a playboy bunny hunt" Dean waggled his eyebrows at Sam.

"Funny. Never gonna happen, but funny"

X

X

X

X

The house was overly cheery, thought Dean. Bright yellow, lipstick pinkish red roof and trim, buttercups and cornflowers bobbing their heads in the well manicured garden.

The front porch held a double swing with floral cushions, and a massive calico sat in the middle, observing them through half lidded, bright orange eyes.

"Looks like something from a sixties sitcom" Sam commented beside him as they climbed the high steps. "Living here'd make me puke"

"I dunno. Looks kinda friendly"

"Yeah, in a creepy grandma sorta way" Sam counted as he rang the bell.

_Tiptoe Through The Tulips_ played in double time and Dean pursed his lips. "You're right. That's just creepy"

The front door opened , though the screen door was still closed, and both the boys had their badges out.

"Oh, you're them, the agents my nephew told me about" a woman's voice called through the one way screen, and they could hear the door unlatch.

It swung outwards and revealed a tallish, rather attractive middle aged woman. "Please, do come in. Jeremy rang me to let me know you would probably come past"

Dean followed her in as Sam held the door for him before pulling it shut behind them. "I'm Ali. Come in, come in, I'll make you some coffee"

The house was every bit as colorful and floral as the outside, with silk flowers, cherubs, and tapestries of cats and puppies adorning the walls.

Dean looked at the sofa and back at his brother. "I can't sit on that" he hissed.

The sofa was coved in a bright, rosy print showing nothing but white roses and baby faces.

"Just sit, Dean" Sam whispered back.

"I caint sit on a baby face" Dean grunted back. He looked around, the only other seat was a plaid armchair, that was fully occupied by another fat cat.

Dean moved over to the chair and scooped the cat onto the floor.

The seat was covered in car hair. Sam shrugged and sat on the sofa as the woman, Ali, walked in with a tray of coffee mugs and cookies.

"Please, sit, the sofa has less pet hair than that chair!" She sat the tray on the small coffee table and pulled one of the matching baby face chairs over to face the hunters.

"I'm sorry I didn't catch your names"

"Agents Vander and Young" Sam smiled at her. "We were hoping to talk to your daughter"

"I've called her down" Ali answered, her face suddenly sad. "She may take a few minutes. She, oh, gosh, how do I describe this? She doesn't quite work on the same speed as the rest of us anymore"

"Can you tell us anything about that night?" Sam asked leaning forward as he tried to ignore Dean squirming beside him, casting suspicious glances at the fabric covering the sofa.

"Not much. The kids used to hang out together a lot. They were rambunctious, you know, a little bit wild, the way kids can be sometimes. No trouble, or anything, just growing up and having fun"

Sam nodded as Dean twisted uncomfortably and moved a little further over.

"Andrea and her best friend came home that night a bit late, I was angry at her, she was supposed to be at the library, but I could smell smoke on her. Oh I knew that girl Maryanne was a bad influence, I was sure of it!"

"We weren't smoking, mom" a soft voice admonished. "You always thought the worst of us, but we we're the nerds. We never did anything wrong"

Ali jumped up. "Oh, honey, I didn't mean that! These agents need to talk to you about that night. It's happened again, the same thing, and they're trying to stop it happening again"

Andrea looked at the two men. She wasn't a very tall girl, though she was pretty in a sad, unkempt sort of way. "I know. You told me Jeremy rang, remember?"

She looked at Sam then at Dean. "What do you want to know?"

Dean moved around again and Sam jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow. "Could you tell us what happened that night?"

Andrea shrugged. Her mother pulled a chair closer and the girl sat. "We were taking a short cut through the cemetery and we saw these jerks all making out and smoking and drinking. We had to get passed them to get through the gate. That's about it"

Dean leaned forward, as much of his ass off the sofa as he could manage without falling off. "There was a little more, though, wasn't there, Andrea?"

She shook her head. "We left. We got passed them, and we left"

"Did you hear them say anything?"

Andrea's face paled, but she shook her head. "No, nothing"

"They didn't, say, call out to a witch, maybe?"

Andrea looked at her mom. "Could you make me some tea, please?"

Ali smiled and patted her daughter on the knee. "If course, honey"

As soon as her mother had left the room Andrea turned to the men. "They did a spell, okay? They were having a séance, or something, and were trying to call up spirits. Then this wind came up and lightning, it was like a horror movie. We ran, Maryanne and me. We didn't stop till we got home. If we smelled like smoke it was all the weird shit they were burning in pots and bowls that got on us while we were hiding, trying to get passed. "

"They didn't call a witch's name backwards three times?"

Andrea ran her hands through her limp hair. "Look. I've heard that story, at school and shit, but that's not what happened. Somehow it all got tangled together with what happened to us. Maryanne died, she bled to death, but the kids there, they didn't say anyone's name backwards or sidewards or upside down. They were having some kind of séance, and they were speaking in, I dunno, Italian? Weird stuff. Sacred the shit outta me. Shared the shit outta Maryanne. We ran faster that we ever had before." She swiped an angry tear from her face. "Didn't do us any good, did it?"

"Um, Andrea? Could you show us where this happened?" Sam asked her.

She shook her head, lips tight. "No. I'm not going back there, not ever again." She looked up at Sam, her eyes flashing. "Not ever, you hear!"

Dean held his hands out in a placating gesture. "It's okay. You don't have to take us there. Could you tell us how to find the right place, at least?"

She sighed. "Yeah, I can"

Andrea's mother came bustling back in, another tray, this time with a tea cup and more cookies. She frowned as she looked at her daughter. "Is everything all right here?"

Andrea accepted the tea but waved away the cookies. "It's fine, mom." She sat her tea down on the table. Looking back at Dean she took a large breath, then lowered her gaze.

"There's a gate, at the back of the cemetery, you'll find it okay, it's just off Simon's road. When you go in you'll see a big browny sorta reddish marble mausoleum, we were hiding behind that. So, if you hide behind that you can look over to where they were. Is that enough?"

The brothers exchanged glances. "I think so, yeah" Dean told her.

Sam and Dean stood, Ali standing with them, but Andrea stayed seated, her face still crumpled in pain and fear.

Sam turned back to her and squatted down to her level. "We'll fix this. I promise"

She looked at the man, his face soft with empathy and kindness. "You can't fix this. Even if you stop the thing that did this, Maryanne will still be dead. Those other kids will still be dead. And I can't ever _not know _what I know. So, really, thanks for caring, but you can't fix this"

Sam gave her a down turned smile. "Well, we'll stop the thing, and we'll stop it from happening again."

He stood and thanked Andrea's mom for the coffee and followed his brother out of the brightly painted door.

Ali stepped out onto the front porch with them. "I'm sorry, agents, she is delusional, I know. The counselor said it was post traumatic stress disorder. She had to find a way to cope with the tragedy, and retreating into a fantasy was her way of dealing"

"Yes, ma'am. We understand. It's all right, really. We deal with this sort of thing all the time." Dean handed her a card. "If she thinks of anything else"

They didn't talk as they walked to the car, but both brothers had furrowed brows and thoughtful expressions.

Dean unlocked the car and climbed in, starting the motor as Sam slid into the passenger seat beside him. "So, maybe not a vengeful spirit?"

Sam reached behind them to the back seat and pulled over his computer bag. "Still could be, Dean" he pulled his computer out and flipped it open. "If they were doing a séance they may have pulled some poor girl's wronged spirit up. If we find the right grave this could all be a quick salt and burn before the night's over"

"Aw, Sammy, why'd ya have to go and do that?"

Sam frowned and looked at his brother. "What? What did I do?"

"You don't think before you speak? Haven't you learned by now that there's no such thing as a simple salt and burn? You had to jinx us, didn't you?"

X

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X

X

The breeze was soft, just swirling the leaves around the gravel path, the trees barely moving, just here and there a gentle rustle.

The gate swung, just a little, the faint squeak of metal an eerie sound that fit the visage too well.

The cemetery looked old, like it had been here many decades, though the gate seemed in good repair and the weeds around the fence were barely overgrown.

Dean grabbed a container of salt and a shotgun. Sam looked past his brother into the cemetery. "I can see the mausoleum"

Dean handed Sam a shotgun and closed the trunk. "Well, it's the only mausoleum on this side, I'd say that's the one"

They walked the short distance to the red marble structure and stood where they thought the girls might have hidden. Looking around, Sam pointed to a small clearing, headstones surrounding it in a neat circle. "I'd say that's the spot"

Dean nodded. "Yeah. Me too. Who's that sitting on the ground in the middle?"

Sam stepped forward. "I see her. What's she doing?

"There's only one way to find out" Dean answered, walking towards her.

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><p><em><strong>AN...Please review. Just a word, here, and I'll come over and clean your oven...**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N...sorry this chapter took so long, I hve been holed up in training at work, far from my computer. For two straight days. Agony!**_

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><p>She was sitting in the middle of the circle, legs crossed, head hung low. She was wearing blue jeans, boots, a navy blue sweater. Her long, dark hair<p>

brushed her jeans and pooled on the ground beside her. As the boys got closer she lifted one arm, palm out, a gesture to stop.

They didn't.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" Sam moved closer.

She kept her hand out, head lowered. "Ma'am? Excuse me?"

Dean bent down to the woman, one hand supporting himself, the other one fisted. "Ma'am? Can you hear us?"

She didn't move but lowered her hand. Dean lifted his fist and threw a small handful of salt on her.

She didn't react. "Ma'am?"

She lifted her head, one hand moving her hair behind her back. She was beautiful.

Her skin was white, paler than fine porcelain, her lips full, pink, her cheekbones high. Her vibrant, cornflower blue eyes were framed with long dark lashes, thin, arched eyebrows were raised in question as she looked at Dean.

"Ma'am?" he asked again.

"Stop calling me that" she spoke softly, her voice carried a slight accent that they couldn't quite place.

Dean lifted his badge from hi stop pocket. "I'm agent Vander, this is Agent Young." She glanced at the badges and stood, Dean stood beside her.

She was tall, almost standing eye to eye with Dean. "I haven't done anything wrong" she said.

"Um, Ma'am? We're investigating the recent deaths, this area was linked to the teens that died"

"Miss" she looked at Sam, her expression blank.

"Pardon me?" Dean put his badge away.

"Miss. Not ma'am. I'm only twenty five, and my mother was ma'am." She brushed her sweater, but seemed not to notice the salt that had sprinkled over her.

"I know this area. I know what happened."

Dean looked at Sam.

"I guess it's been covered in all of the news papers" Sam ran a hand through his hair. "I suppose everyone is curious about it"

She sighed. "I'm not curious. Not really. It's just that" she sighed again, and grabbed her long hair, pulling it back into a pony tail type style then tying it in a knot.

"You see, my kid sister was one of the teenagers that died" She swiped the tears that had gathered in her lashes.

Silence fell on the trio. Dean looked down at his feet for a moment. He knew how that felt. Damn it, he wished he didn't, but he knew.

"I'm very sorry" Sam spoke quietly.

The woman looked him in the eyes, her blue ones capturing his hazel ones with an intense gaze. "Thank you. It doesn't help, but thank you"

"How much do you know about what happened?" Sam asked her.

She shrugged. "Not much. Thing is, I didn't really know my sister. My dad re married, and I lived with my mom. My sister, Tracie, I think I only saw her twice in her whole life. Bad divorce, you see"

"Your father wouldn't let you visit?"

She gave a self deprecating smile. "Actually, I meant _his_ divorce, to Tracie's mom. They split up before Tracie was three, and Tracie's mom cut all ties" She looked at Dean, then back at Sam, a frown cutting her pretty features. "What do you want to know? About the deaths, I mean"

"Well, I guess, what do you know?" Sam pulled out his little writing pad from his jacket pocket.

"Well, I don't want to talk here, if that's okay. I can take you back to Tracie's house. Her mom has gone to stay with her family, but she let me have full use of the house. Too little, too late, I guess, but I suppose it's better than nothing"

She held her hand out for Sam's pad, and wrote the address down. "My cell is there, too." She told him.

"Your name is Joan?"

"Yeah. My dad loved Joan Baez. Me? Not so much. Just call me Joanie"

"Okay, Joanie, we'll meet you in about an hour, if that suits you?" Sam asked her.

She nodded. "Perfect for me. I wanted to grab a shower, so that's fine. See you then"

She turned and walked off in the opposite direction, towards the front of the cemetery.

Dean pulled his cell phone out and started taking photos of all of the graves surrounding the circle. Sam waited until Joanie was out of site and pulled the EMF meter out.

It let out a howl as soon as Sam turned it on, but Dean didn't even turn around. He just pointed a finger to the sky.

Where high voltage power lines passed over.

Sam turned the meter off and stuck it back in his pocket.

"What have you got, then?"

Dean shrugged. "I dunno man. All the graves are for old people. Like, over eighty. There's no young girl that was laid to rest here"

Sam stood in the middle of the circle. "Looks like something used to bolted here" He bent and touched the holes the bolts had been removed from. "About the size of a park bench, I'd say"

Dean moved to the graves outside of the circle.

"Same here. All old folks."

Sam frowned and turned around, slowly. Nothing particularly caught his eye. Apart from these graves arranged in a circle, with the whole of the middle area concreted, this seemed to be a normal cemetery, and none of the headstones stood out as anything out of the ordinary.

Dean had taken pictures of every grave and the surrounding area, then turned to his brother. "Well, you got me. Nothing obvious here"

Sam ran a hand through his hair. "Not often we get lucky, Dean. Looks like research mode."

"Great" Dean groaned. "My favorite thing in the whole entire world"

X

X

X

X

Tracie's home was a nice, neat, middle class bungalow with a picket fence, neat garden, and a porch swing.

Joanie had answered the door with her feet bare, hair still wet, and a towel around her shoulders.

She had shown the boys Tracie's room, and a few photos, but so far nothing was standing out.

"So, Tracie didn't die here?" Sam asked her as she handed them coffees, both men sitting on a couch with a far more placid print than the one earlier that day.

"No. It happened at the cemetery. Three boys and two girls. Two girls had gone home before, one survived, the other one is missing."

"Missing? We didn't hear anything about that" Sam pulled his notebook out and flipped through the pages.

"Apparently she's prone to taking off, sometimes for weeks on end. No one seems particularly worried about her, they're assuming she's still alive or she would've been found by now"

"Do you have her name, by any chance?" Dean asked her.

She frowned a little. "Wouldn't you have that from the police report?"

Dean smiled at her. "We haven't had a chance to go through the whole report yet, we happened on you first"

She nodded. "No, I don't know her name. But, if you want, I have Tracie's laptop. I don't know if it will help, but you can take it, as long as you bring it back when you're finished"

The phone rang and Joanie left the room to answer it. "Dude, I think Tracie's a bust" Dean whispered. "We need to find the name of the missing kid, and see if she took off for a reason"

"Yeah, you may be right." Sam put his notepad back into his pocket. "We should get back to the other town, hit the library and see if any of these names on the graves have meaning, as well"

Joanie walked back into the room, hot pink computer in her hands. "Are you two staying in town?" She asked them.

Dean stood. "No, actually, we're one town over." Dean took the laptop " Thank you so much for your time, Joanie"

Sam also stood and adjusted his tie. "Yes, thank you. And sympathies on your loss."

She gave them a sad smile. "Thanks. Well, you have my number if you need anything else"

As they turned to leave something caught Dean's eye. One wall in the passage leading to the front door was covered with photographs, some old, some not so old, all in mis-matched frames.

Leaning in he seemed fascinated by a couple of photographs, black and white, showing people in the stern poses that mid nineteenth century sepia photos usually held.

Pointing to one of the photos he looked at Joanie. "What do you know about these pictures?" he asked.

X

X

X

X

He stood and stretched, yawning, and moved over to the window. It was an easy job, no denying that. Plenty of time to study, catch up on is class reading, and unlimited internet access.

It was boring as hell, though.

That's why he's organized his college buddies to come down. They were bringing pizza and beer, and maybe a girl or two. It was going to be a fantastic lunch break.

If they would just get the hell here. He shook his arms, then his legs, knowing if he sat back down he'd probably fall asleep. It was very warm in here.

Walking to the office door he took a look back over his shoulder at the security monitors.

As usual, all quiet.

Except...what was that?

He let go of the door knob and walked back to the bank of security monitors showing the warehouse floor, about twenty in all, each showing a different angle or room.

One of them was showing the showers. A barely used area, even on a work day.

This day was not a work day, it was a scheduled day off for the entire warehouse and factory.

Only people on were security, which was himself, on a twelve hour shift, then the night guy, who would be in at seven thirty for the next twelve hour shift.

But there was something moving in the shower block. He couldn't see exactly what it was, but he could see the shadow as it passed under the camera, back and forth, doing god knows what.

Great. He'd been here five months and nothing had ever happened. The one day he'd decided to break rules and have his buddies in, some douche bag decided to break in and tag the bathroom area.

He hit the call button to the main security office. It was located at the sister factory in the next town over. The recording came on to answer him, they were either slacking off over there or someone was doing rounds.

He left a message reporting the movement and advised he was taking his portable radio with him to check it out.

He wrote a note to let his buddies know he'd be back in fifteen minutes and grabbed his night stick and the keys, then left the security office through a different door, this one opened out onto a very long stair case taking him down to the warehouse floor.

The warehouse, while on ground level, was dark, all the windows had been covered by stacked crates, piled as high as the top of the windows.

The security office, lunch room and administration block were all on the high mezzanine level. The shower block was at the end of the warehouse, and it was set slightly lower than floor level.

As he got closer he removed his night stick from the holder on his belt and held it out, he was fairly sure he wouldn't have to use it, but better to be ready. His radio was on, and he was pretty confident that he'd either find a kid that had broken in to tag the place, or a junky that was shooting up.

Could also be an employee that had stashed something stolen in the bathrooms to collect later. If it was anything legit they would have checked in with him before entering the building.

He wasn't frightened in any way. He was a rather imposing figure, well over six feet tall, built like a brick out house, and could give about the meanest look you'd ever find on a nineteen year old. Though no one ever picked him at under twenty five.

He pushed the door to the showers open.

He couldn't see anyone, at first. Not surprised at this as the camera was attached to the far corner, so as to maintain a degree of privacy for those showering.

"Hello?" he called out. "This is security guard Jason Handridge, and I am armed. Please show yourself"

There was no answer.

He snibbed the door behind himself to stop anyone else entering and walked into the main shower area. "Show yourself. This is security guard Jason Handridge, and I am armed. Show yourself and we'll discuss this in a calm manner"

He was following regulations to the letter. No one moved, no sound other than his own footsteps.

He searched the shower block, top to bottom, opening every door, every locker, no one was there, no one was hiding. The only way out was a locked back door, the chain still intact, and the laundry chute, which was also locked from the inside.

As he had to unlock the shower door when he got there he was positive no one had exited back into the warehouse.

Figuring it was a trick of the light, maybe a rat's shadow, magnified from the window or some such thing, he radioed through his all clear.

This also hit the message bank.

He walked out of the shower area to the urinal and relieved himself, washed his hands and paused at the mirror, brushing a hand through his hair and pulling a face.

From the corner of his eye he was sure he saw movement, and spun, to see nothing.

He turned back to the mirror. There was a definite shadow behind him, and it moved, he could track it very clearly on the white washed wall.

When he turned it was gone.

He pulled his night stick out again, and slowly turned back to the mirror.

What he saw made him evacuate his bowels, and scream longer and louder than he ever had in his life before.

X

X

X

X

"Dude, I'm starving. We gotta stop for something to eat before we hit the library"

Sam sighed. "Can we pick something up, then, and eat while I check the net?"

Dean pulled into the gravel car park of a roadside diner. "You got free Wi-fi here, and the pie's the best in town. Says so on the sign"

"You wanna eat in"

Dean grinned. "Yeah, I wanna eat in. We're probably gonna be holed up in the motel for hours while we research this deal, so yeah, gimme a couple more minutes on the outside"

"Not prison, Dean"

"Not a diner, Sammy"

Sam reached for his computer bag as Dean turned off the car. "Those photos at Tracie's house, Dean. What made you notice them?"

Dean shrugged. "Something weird about them. When I looked closer, I could see the woman had a black eye. She's tried to cover it up, but in the next photo it looked like she had a split lip"

"Seriously? You think she was beaten?"

Opening the car door, Dean paused and turned back to his brother. "I dunno, but it might fit. Maybe the spirit is her, a battered wife, still hanging around, getting more and more pissed. I mean, if she was beaten badly enough, she coulda bled from the eyes and ears. And mouth, too"

"Yeah, sure. Strange that she's kill her own descendant, though" he stepped out of the car. "You think she'd protect another female, not hurt her"

Dean locked up the car and headed for the door. "Can never tell with a vengeful spirit, Sammy. She's probably been hanging around for decades, gettin' madder and madder"

He pushed open the door and the bell jingled as he did so, evoking memories of about every diner they'd ever stopped at. In fact, neither boy, if asked, could probably remember a diner that didn't have a cheery bell as you opened the door.

Sam looked around as the door jingled closed behind him. "Seriously, Dean? You wanna eat in? The place smells like feet"

Dean smiled. "Smells like pie, Sammy. And I do love me some pie!" he moved towards and empty booth.

"Yeah, _feet_ pie, by the smell of it" Sam grumbled as he followed Dean to the red vinyl seats, a bright red and white gingham table cloth covering the booth table.

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><p><em><strong>AN...Please...you know what I want, what I crave...**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N...I know, it's been a week...but I had a little trouble. It's resolve dnow, back to they story. Hopefully another chapter in a couple of days, I should be back to my usual two chapters a week. I think.**_

_**Depends on my brain, and we all know how fickle that is...**_

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><p>The library was as old as the town itself, and Dean could swear that the librarian was even older. She was sweet, though, and very helpful, setting the boys up in a quiet area with the local records of births, deaths and marriages, microfiche and local history books, and offered to help whenever they needed it.<p>

Sam was pleased his brother didn't complain once, instead he seemed to be fascinated with tracing the family history of the various graves, every time he found a link he'd write it down and hand it to Sam to check against the microfiche files.

They worked in relative silence for a couple of hours before the librarian came to check on them.

"How're you boys doing, then?" She smiled at them.

"Um, fine, ma'am, thank you" Sam smiled back at the frail looking woman.

She had a small book in her hands that she gave to him. "I remembered this one, it doesn't give you much, but it's a thesis written by one of the locals about urban myths and ghost stories. I only thought you might be interested as it lists a few of the names you seem to be researching"

Dean took the book and started to flick through it. Sam gave the woman a duck of his head and a friendly smile. "This is kinda a hobby of yours?"

"Ooh yes!" she gushed and pulled up a chair. "I'm fascinated with it all! And we have some colorful history around here, let me tell you!"

Dean poked Sam in the ribs, but Sam just pushed his hand away.

"There are so many ghost stories surrounding this town, I could go on for days!"

A soft groan from Dean went unnoticed as she sat, her face beaming. "I'm even thinking of writing a book myself, you know. So tell me, was it the recent incidents that have your curiosity peaked?"

Sam turned his chair a little to face her. "Well, like me and my brother mentioned, we're researching a book, and yeah, you could say that peaked our interest"

"Oh, well, it's not the first time it happened! Back when I was just a girl, quite a while ago, I confess, the same thing happened. Kids bleeding from about everywhere on their bodies and dying. Terrible, I tell you, terrible!"

"So that was when, eighteen eighty four?" Dean asked.

She grinned at him. "Oh, hush there boy. It was nineteen thirty eight. So I am about as old as you think I am. I was only twelve years old at the time, and it was terrible. Just terrible."

"I guess it was terrible" Dean groaned and Sam poked him hard with his elbow.

"You see, back then we lost nearly thirty teenagers before it stopped. We had the county health department here for weeks trying to figure out what happened to them, and they put it down to an aggressive strain of flu. Of course, we all knew what it was"

Sam waited for her to continue, but she just sat, smiling, waiting for him to ask.

"So, what happened?" Dean broke the silence. "What did you all know?"

"Well, it was Cassie Winters, of course!" she smiled.

"Ma'am? Cassie Winters?" Sam frowned. "I don't think we came across that name"

"Well, of course you wouldn't, would you?"

A younger woman walked up to the trio and tapped the librarian on the shoulder. "Sorry, Ivy, I need to see you in the office. We're working out next month's rosters"

The elderly librarian stood. "I'm sorry gentlemen, I have to do this. Perhaps you can call back tomorrow? I'm on from eleven"

Sam stood. "Thank you ma'am. You've been a great help"

Dean shook his heat. "Pfffttt. Great help. Try flirting with someone your own age, Sam boy"

Sam sat back down. "Well, at least I wasn't rude to her, Dean. Eighteen eighty four? What was that about?"

"Relax, man, she knew I was joking" Dean pulled his phone off the table. "Cassie Winters, huh?" he scrolled through the photos he'd taken at the cemetery "There's a Casselata Afterfall's name on the gravestones. Think she could be Cassie Winters?"

Sam pulled over the book he's been checking when Ivy had joined them. "Casselata is mentioned in here, too. But it doesn't say she was accused of being witch, or anything. In fact, she died age seventy three, survived by thirteen children"

Dean whistled. "Thirteen? No TV back then, see" He pulled over the computer and started to tap at the keypad. "Only one grandchild. How is that normal, thirteen children, only one grandchild?"

Sam flicked the page on the book over. "Says the same thing here. Actually, she wasn't survived by thirteen children, she _had_ thirteen children. Only one survived to marry, and died at childbirth."

Dean leaned back a little. "Are we on to something here? Seems as good a clue as any"

"Dunno, Dean. Let's see what the children died of, first. Back in those days life was hard. You were lucky to make it to your first birthday, and if the 'flu or measles came around, it could wipe out whole communities, let alone just one family"

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess you're right. Also there's the ghost stories Ivy just brought over. Gah! Just want I needed, more research"

Sam handed another book to Dean and smiled at him. "Well, we're a little closer along, anyway"

"Your sarcasm shall be rewarded, mark my words" Dean sniped and opened the book to the index.

X

X

X

X

"Though you were never gonna let us in!" The teenager smiled at his friend, his gap teeth white, framed in a wide, happy mouth. "We knocked for ages, dude!"

Jason gave him a warm smile. "I heard a noise downstairs; I was just checking it out, is all"

He pushed the door wide to allow his three friends in, they were carrying beer, pizzas and a shopping bag of snacks. They also had two very pretty girls with them.

"Sorry, dude, could only get two. We'll have to share" his friend winked as he walked passed.

They were excited and upbeat, a chance to hang out at the warehouse was a chance to have fun, scoot around on forklifts, motorised parcel carriers, and generally have normal, teenage mayhem on an uncontrolled scale.

They ate in the main office before heading down to the factory floor, where they spent the afternoon doing everything they had planned to, getting happily drunk as they did.

Dusk fell and they were still playing on the over head cables, they made a fun and effective flying fox as they catapulted into a pile of packing mattresses.

"We gotta pack up soon, the night guy will be in" Jason called and they all settled back on the packing material to finish the beer.

Jason was sitting on an upturned crate, and he looked over his friends. "So, guys, you know how I told you I heard a noise downstairs?"

They looked at each other, shrugging, not overly interested.

"When you got here, I was down here checking something out"

"Yeah, what of it, man?"

"Well, I found something really freaky." He lifted his beer bottle and drained it. "You guys wanna see it?"

"Is it cool? I don't wanna see anything gross" one of the girls wrinkled her nose.

"No, it's not gross, it is super cool. Trust me, you'll love this. "C'mon!"

He led them towards the male shower block.

"We can't go in there" one of the girls said.

"Of course you can. The person in charge here is me" Jason grinned at her. "And I say _anyone_ can come in. Besides, it is the most amazing thing, you won't wanna miss out!"

With agreement all around, he led his party of six into the main shower block.

And locked the door behind them.

X

X

Howard had been night security at the warehouse for twenty four years, eleven months and three days.

It was a good gig.

On the odd occasion he'd catch a fool trying to break in, or an employee trying to retrieve something stolen they'd stashed to collect later, all easily handled.

Sometimes kids would try to get away with spray painting graffiti on the outside. The company had installed a loud speaker system, and his booming voice yelling a warning was all it took to chase most of them off.

There had never really been any scandals, the odd occasion of a liaison between co workers, caught on his surveillance cameras, but never reported.

Made for fun viewing during the long hours the factory sat there at night, vacant, unmanned, until the next shift started.

Time was it ran twenty four hours a day, but that time was long gone.

Usually they ran two shifts a day, and one day a month both shifts got the day off, such as today.

That didn't cover the security guards, but the pay was good and the Christmas bonus was even better.

And his counterpart, Charlie, had retired two months ago, and if Howard got even close to that kind of retirement bonus his life would be sitting pretty.

The office door was locked, that was good, but there was no one in the office.

That was strange.

He let himself in and looked for a security log showing why the office was unmanned.

There was one for about lunch time, saying a shadow of movement had required further investigation, but that log had been cleared as a possible rat or possum.

There was nothing else.

The new guy was a kid, just filling out over the summer break until Howard retired, then the company was going to outsource the security detail to an outside firm.

The kid had been no problem up to now, arriving early, never leaving before his shift, following protocol to the letter.

It wasn't like him to leave the office unmanned.

Howard tried to radio him, but it just went to message.

He pulled the security timeline up on the computer and ran it back to lunch time, the last time he was sure that Jason had been in the office.

He saw the boy let his friends in, and then they all went down onto the warehouse floor.

He fast forwarded through, watching them play, racing forklifts and trolleys, jumping onto packing and generally acting like kids.

Except letting anyone onto the factory floor was strictly forbidden, and this was well known to Jason.

He should have been smarter, he should have come up and erased the tapes before Howard's shift started.

It was strange that he had not.

Howard watched as the group headed into the shower block.

Why, he had no idea. There wasn't much that was fun in there.

He slowed the tape, the timeline showing it was about forty five minutes before his shift started.

He saw the six kids walk in, then Jason looked at the security camera that was pointing towards the door.

That's where the security tape ended.

It went fuzzy, sort of white static, then it stopped.

He looked up to the monitor that covered the shower block.

All of the cameras were down.

Damn kids.

Wiping the tape would have been far smarter.

Disabling the cameras created a log, and it would be more difficult to explain.

Kid would get fired over this, Howard was pretty sure.

He tried to radio Jason again but it still went straight to message bank.

Sighing, knowing there would be no way he could cover the kid's ass he pressed the call button to the main security office.

It went straight to message. Damn idiots, he thought. I could be bleeding to death on the warehouse floor, and no one would be there to hear my call.

He left a message briefly outlying what he had discovered, and told them he was going down to check out the shower block.

Taking a night stick and clipping a radio onto his belt, he clomped down the metal stairs into the main warehouse.

God Dammit! Those kids hadn't cleaned up after themselves, the forklifts were out of place, there were pizza boxes, empty beer bottles and snack wrappers everywhere.

Kid deserved to get fired.

He marched the floor of the factory, his anger growing as he found similar mess the whole way, until he came to the shower block.

He stopped at the door, confused.

The door had a safety glass panel half way up, it was opaque and usually was fairly well lit, either from the sun reflecting through the sky light, or the night safety lights.

It was lit, he could see that, but it was covered in something.

Looked like someone had sprayed ketchup all over it.

He hoped they made the kid clean up before they fired him.

He tried the door, only to find it locked.

What the hell were they getting up to in there?

He pulled the key chain from his belt and opened the door, but had to shove it hard, there was something jammed up against it from the other side.

He nearly slipped as he took a step inside, the floor was coated in ketchup.

And the roof.

And the walls.

And it smelled... hell, it smelled _bad_.

He looked behind him to see what had been jammed up against the door, and scrambled backwards when he saw the gaping mouthed corpse of a young man, his body covered in ketchup.

Only he knew, now, that it wasn't ketchup.

It was blood.

He slipped as he moved backwards, his butt crashing to the floor with a slooshy squelch and he caught site of other bodies, all covered in blood, all gape mouthed and wide eyed, as if frozen in fear.

He screamed.

He couldn't stop screaming, the sound keening loud and long, echoing in the empty shower block, and through the open door to the lofty heights of the warehouse roof.

On his belt, his radio crackled to life.

_"This is base. Please report your current situation, over"_

He grabbed at the radio, the blood covering his hands from his efforts to maintain a sitting position making the task difficult.

_"This is base. Please report. Over"_

"They're all dead!" he screamed into the radio. "Base, call the cops, call the Sherriff, hell, call the God dammed army, there's blood everywhere, they're all dead!"

_"Say again. This is base, please repeat, over"_

"Base, this is Howard, please, call the cops, the day guy, his friends, they're all dead. I'm in the shower room, and there's blood everywhere"

_"This is base. Dead? Did you say they're all dead?"_

"Affirmative, base, they're all dead"

A small noise caught his attention.

He stood, carefully, the floor a slippery mess.

"There' not _all_ dead, Howard" a voice from behind the lockers snarled at him.

x

x

"Well, this is getting wackier and wackier" Dean complained. "I got a timeline goin' here, but each time I try to tie it in with the rest of the towns folk, I get lost"

Sam pulled the push pin from the article he was pinning up and moved it over, then grabbed another sheet of note paper.

"No, see here, Dean? Look. This family married into...ah" he looked, tracing the red thread across from one paper to another, then throwing his hands in the air. "You're right. It's wacked."

He stood back and looked at the wall, all of the notes, pieces of maps and pictures pinned on it almost told a story.

Almost.

There was something they were missing, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was.

"Found it"

Dean had pulled something from the table, and walked back to the wall.

He traced a path along one of the threads, then pinned his cutting up at the end, the fluoro pink push pin spearing the eye of a stern looking matron.

He stepped back and folded his arms.

"I think that'll do it"

Sam stepped forward. "You sure?"

"I'm sure. That's the missing link"

Sam read the article attached to the photo of the matron and nodded. "Yeah. I think you could be right"

The police scanner they had on the night stand crackled to life. The both turned towards it and listened to the report of the bodies found covered in blood at the warehouse.

Dean pulled his jacket off. "Suit up, man. Sounds like one of ours"

x

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><p><em><strong>AN...So...review? And feel free to guess at where this is going, I find that fun. I am surprised when you guys can follow my wierd train of thought. I kinda think this story is obvious, but that could be due to the fact that I'M the one writing it!**_

_**See you in a couple of days!**_

_**:)**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N..I am up WAY too late posting this. You guys better leave me a review...**_

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><p>The smell of the blood was almost overwhelming. Dean grimaced at Sam as the policeman he was talking to rushed to a trashcan to throw up.<p>

"This is escalating, it seems" Sam moved closer to his brother. "Can't check for EMF, there's heavy power lines outside the wall, but there's something over by the door you should see"

He led Dean over to the door and bent, showing him a small pile of yellow dust.

"Sulphur"

"Looks like" Sam touched it, lifting his coated finger to his nose. "That would be a _yes_"

Dean stood and turned back to the scene in the shower block. A plain clothes police officer caught his eye and walked over.

"Well, all bodies accounted for, as far as we can tell. Only one survivor"

"And that was the security guy Howard, right?" Dean asked him.

The police man nodded at him. "Yeah. He's gone to the hospital, ambulance took him before you arrived. He's in shock, and they were worried about his ticker, being an older guy"

Dean nodded as Sam flipped his notebook over, checking he had the details.

"You guys sure this isn't some infectious disease? I mean, I'm a family man, half the guys here have a wife and kids"

Dean gave him a reassuring smile. "I can assure you, I wouldn't be standing here if there was any risk of catching something"

The officer returned his smile and nodded. "Yeah. I guess you wouldn't. Thanks" He turned to check he was out of ear shot of any of his colleagues. "Can you tell me what it is? You know, I hear the crazy stories, but geez, this is beyond what I've heard."

Dean shook his head. "I'm sorry, man, that's classified. Just suffice to say you don't have to worry about catching anything"

The officer shook his hand and joined his colleagues.

"Hospital?" Sam asked.

Dean sighed. "Yeah. Let's go see what Howard remembered"

The left the shower block and wiped their blood coved shoes on the towels provided, both not speaking as there were too many other people around. It wasn't till they got into their car that silence was broken.

"I wonder if there was sulphur at the other sites" Dean turned the car on.

"Probably. This is the first one we've attended. We still only have a theory, here Dean, and I'm not sure this death fits it. I mean, these guys were workers. Not kids"

"Teenagers, all except Howard. And he was the only survivor"

"Barely teenagers" Sam flipped his notepad open as Dean maneuvered around the emergency vehicles in the warehouse car park. "But um, yeah, says here that the guy Jason was nineteen, turning twenty in two days"

"So we got the cemetery kids, one still missing. We got party players, one survivor. And now we have factory funners, also one survivor."

"We got the kid, too, the little brother"

"What?" Dean glanced at his brother. "Oh, yeah, the kid saw white smoke. Thing is, demons don't appear as white smoke, they're black"

"That we know of" Sam ran a hand through his too long hair. "We've seen different colored eyes, why can't they have different colored smoke?"

Dean shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. If it is a demon. We're still working on that angle, aren't we? That it's a demon?"

Sam nodded. "So far, till we're proved wrong, I suppose"

"Yeah, like that ever happens. So I'm starving, if we can find anything open I'd like to stop to eat."

Sam glanced at his watch. "We should check out Howard first"

"Fine. Crack the whip. You know I work better on a full stomach, though, don't you?"

Sam grinned. Nice to have his brother joke with him. "It's getting a little late, I don't want them to sedate him for the night"

"Could be too late already. Only one way to find out, I guess" Dean turned the car onto the road leading to the hospital, and Sam tucked his notebook back into his pocket.

"You got holy water?"

"Yep. You got the exorcism?" Sam pulled the paper out of his pocket and nodded, then put it away.

"You think we might have this one solved before the day is through, maybe?"

"Sammy, Sammy, Sammy. Why d'ya go and jinx us for?"

X

X

X

X

Howard had been sedated for the night, but the night nurse, a frumpy twenty something woman, had near collapsed into a blushing heap of giggles at the attention from Dean and had led them to the security guard's room.

Howard was propped in bed, his eyes half closed, television droning on, ignored, in one corner.

The nurse checked his vitals, introduced the hunters as their cover names. Howard didn't move. "Gee guys, I don't know how much you'll get out of him!" she looked at Dean and blushed deeply, giggling again, then left them alone.

"Mr Howard?" Dean looked at his brother when the man didn't react.

"Um, Mr Jones? Sir? Can you hear me?" Sam stepped forward and leant in towards the man.

"Of course I can hear you, you fucking idiot" growled the man, his eyes half closed, his face expressionless. He didn't seem to have moved at all since they had entered the room, and even now, the only part of him that moved was his mouth.

"Ah, Mr Jones?" Sam waved a hand in front of the man's face, but got no reaction.

"Maybe it's the drugs?" Suggested Dean.

Howard's head snapped around to face him the eyes still half closed. "I said I can hear you. Are you the ones that are drugged?" he spat, his voice venomous, but his expression still unchanged.

Dean pulled the flask of holy water from his pocket.

"You think I don't know what you are? You wear your fancy suits, but I can see. I can see right through you. Both of you."

Dean unscrewed the lid, moving slowly so as to not startle the man in the bed.

"Steaming piles of excrement. Filth. Nothing that deserves to live on this planet. Both of you are no more than..."

Dean flicked the holy water over the man making him scream, his head flung back, lips drawn tight in pain as the water hissed off him.

His head snapped forward with his eyes fully open this time, and they were black. Dean threw more water at him and Sam grabbed the exorcism from his pocket.

Seeing this, Howard threw his head back again, mouth gaping wide allowing black smoke to billow out, swirling around the ceiling then launched at Sam.

It swirled around him, but not gaining any entry, it tried Dean.

Frustrated, warded off by their tattooed protection symbols, the smoke picked both brothers up in its swirling tendrils and threw them through the rear wall of the hospital room.

Drywall, wires and dust were thrown out, showering the room and Howard's unconscious form.

The smoke swirled around the room and hovered over Howard, as if contemplating re entering the prone man, but then it lifted as the sounds of running feet and shouted alarms reverberated into the room.

The smoke lifted back to the ceiling, then shout out through a ceiling vent at high speed.

"What's happening?" called out patients as they tumbled from other rooms, IV stands dragged along, robes hastily being fastened.

"Sounds like an oxygen explosion. Please follow the staff, we'll evacuate into the car park" the frumpy nurse was all business now as she helped patients out of the dust filled corridor.

Security and emergency staff ran into the exploded room, and checked the man in the bed.

"There's two guys through a wall, here" called someone, and the hospital staff scurried to help the men who had been thrown into the linen room, dust and plaster still falling as they reached in.

Sam stirred as hands grabbed at him, checking, probing, making sure he was not seriously injured, and he groaned at the attention, disoriented and barley conscious.

He coughed and tried to sit up but strong hands held him down. "Hang on there, buddy, hang on. We'll just check to see nothings busted, okay?" a soothing male voice told him.

He tried to open his yes but debris was all over his face.

Someone wiped his eyes with a damp cloth and he peeked out into the dimly lit disaster zone.

"Dean?" he tried to turn his head but the hands prevented him.

"Dean? That's your name?" the voice asked him as Sam struggled to focus on the face before him.

"No, my brother, Dean. _Dean._ He was with me. Is he all right?" he felt panic start to well up, he wasn't quite sure what had happened, his head was throbbing and there was dark and dust and too many people climbing about.

"Just lay back buddy. Lay back. There are other people checking your brother. Let me have a look at you and then we'll see about him, okay? Can we do that?"

Sam stopped resisting and let the hands probe his body, a small flashlight checked his eyes, someone else was feeling his legs.

"Can you please check on my brother? Please?"

He didn't get an answer, so this time he pushed back the helpful arms and sat up.

The room was a mess. Thankfully they had landed in a room that contained soft materials, but they had crashed through a wall to get there, and the sheets and towels were contained on metal shelved.

Metal shelves that were now being lifted from a very still body underneath them.

"Oh God, Dean?" Gasped Sam, his heart in his throat.

"C'mon, let's get you out of here" hands pulled at him and lifted him from the rubble, into Howard's room. Sam didn't take his eyes off his brother, aware that those working to clear Dean from the shelves were not speaking.

There was no reassuring, soothing words, no hopeful banter between the rescuers.

Just ominous silence.

X

X

X

X

Joanie sighed and pulled her hair into a knot at the back of her shoulders.

She felt the black sorrow settle into her heart and decided not to try to shake it, but to let the pain and sadness sit there.

She hadn't known her sister. Not really, not at all.

It had always been her dream, though. She had so desperately wanted to know her.

She had created a whole fantasy of their first real meeting, now that she was an adult, and Tracie a teenager, how they would go shopping together, do lunch, be real sisters.

Real sisters.

She knew that the sadness she felt was probably more for herself, for her lost dream, for her family she would never know.

But it didn't stop her feeling sad.

She was sitting in a school gymnasium, the lights too bright, the music too contemporary.

She had never liked modern music, her mom was a sixties English pop freak, and she was addicted to the same era and style of music.

She supposed this blaring rhythmic thumping was what Tracie and her friends had liked. Why they had to pay it so loud, and at a support service for the grieving school mates of the deceased, she had no idea.

Everyone had been very nice to her, and in talking to them she had found herself liking her lost sister more and more.

They spoke of a funny, clever, athletic girl who was a bit of a rebel, liked boys and trouble more than she should, and didn't think twice about cutting school to hang out with her friends.

Seemed she had been popular, one of the 'it' girls.

The friends showed Joanie photos and video clips of the girl, eyes so like her own, mannerisms so familiar, but so unknown, to her.

And at each one her heart broke a little more.

Especially when she found out that Tracie had often spoken about her, about her fantasies to hang out with her older sister, to go shopping, talk on the phone, do each other's hair, be a family.

A family.

Whatever had done this to Tracie, whatever had killed her, it hadn't just destroyed the life of a vibrant, hopeful teenager, it had destroyed the dreams of a young woman with no family to speak of.

She wiped her eye as an errant tear threatened to spill forth, her heart even heavier than before.

The music came to an end and the kids all said goodnight to each other, hugging, kissing, crying, then walking past the enlarged photographs set up on easels around the podium, candles lit for each child that had died.

Some young man came up to her and offered her a ride home.

Home?

Where was her home, now?

Not back with her distant, alcoholic mother.

Not at Tracie's house, where the loss of the girl screamed from every room.

She decided to grab a room at the only motel the town possessed, and walked the way on her own.

The clerk at the motel was nice, efficient, and sympathetic.

How he knew who she was, she didn't know.

Didn't care.

She just wanted to drink herself to sleep.

She fitted her key into the lock of her motel room door and looked down at the mist that swirled around her feet.

Strange.

It looked a little like smoke.

Like white smoke.

It swirled around her feet, then slowly drifted up, twirling up around her legs, her waist, and around her shoulders…..

X

X

X

X

"So, they like, said her name three times, and then, like you know, it happened"

"Girl, you are about the worst story teller. _Ever_" the pretty girl sat back on the gym mats, her dark, tightly curled hair shining under the gymnasium lights, the music now turned to a much lower level.

The adults had left, happy to leave the kids for another hour or so to deal with their feelings, their sense of loss and confusion over the deaths of their class mates.

The kids, on the other hand, were happy to be left for an hour, drinking smuggled alcohol and smoking, making fun of the losers that had died, well, they were never really close anyway.

Those kids were the ones that always skipped school, were into drugs and shop lifting, teasing other kids and jacking cars.

Their loss was something to get attention for, but not to mourn over.

"I'll tell you what they did" a boy stood, tall and gangly, his near six foot seven frame not yet filled out, his broad shoulders only making him look awkward.

He was anything but awkward. He was a star basketball player, already had college recruiters banging at his door, and the promise of a more muscular build was there just lapping at the surface of his pending adulthood.

"They did a séance and called up the spirit of Cassie Winters"

"Ooh, really? Cassie Winters? My mom used to scare me with stories about her when I was like eight years old" the first girl crooned.

"No, I'm sure they said the name of Celia Goodwife three times over." The second girl shook her head.

"I don't care" The first girl sat forward and handed her bottle to the quiet boy beside her. "Tell both. I love a good scary story"

The tall boy smiled. There were six kids here, including himself, and he was now the centre of attention.

Just the way he liked it.

"Okay, they were in the cemetery, right? And they had an Ouija board, and were mucking around, asking all sorts of questions, calling the spirits of the dead witches who were buried in a circle around them"

"Was one of them Celia Goodwife?" asked the first girl.

"Knock off with the Celia Goodwife, sister" the quiet boy said.

The lights flickered as soon as he mentioned the name, and the music stopped.

The candles that were burning at all of the easels went out at once, and the floor started to vibrate.

"What the..?" the tall boy turned to look at the photos, then back at his friends. "What's going on?"

"We said it" the dark haired girl barley whispered. "We said her name three times over"

"But that's not what happened!" protested the tall boy. "That's just a made up story. That never happened!"

The vibrations grew stronger.

The lights flickered again, and an ominous hum started to grow and fill the void left by the music.

The teens moved closer together, their backs against the pile of gym mats, and as the hum grew louder and the vibrations grew stronger the pushed into each other, clinging together in fear and confusion.

Suddenly everything stopped.

The sudden silence was almost as loud as the noise had been.

The teenagers stayed together, clinging to each other as they looked around the gymnasium, trying to find some sense in what had just happened.

The tall boy gave a shaky laugh. "That was crazy, hey?" his voice wasn't quite steady, but the combined exhale brought some comfort to him as they started to move away from each other.

"That was wack" the quiet boy smiled a little self consciously.

"Let's get out of here. This place is creeping me out now" the dark haired girl stood up and everyone nodded and stood to join her.

The lights went out, no noise, no vibrations, just total darkness.

Then, the screaming…

x

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><p><em><strong>AN..there have been a few problems on the site. No alerts, read counts or review notifications... I may not know if you have read or reviewed. Please accept my thanks, anyway.**_

_**Next chapter Tuesday, my time, (Down under time) probably. Unless it rains all weekend.**_

_**Oh, and athat button, just over there? The one that sayd review? Please, please go there. Do that.**_

_**I be all warm and fuzzy...**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N...sorry for the delay...bad week...**_

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><p>Sam stood back from the door as yet another gurney was pushed through, this one also holding a bloodied youth, oxygen mask in place, covering sheet soaked near through.<p>

He looked over to his brother, who was still sitting on a gurney, though now he had been moved into the hallway as they rushed the stricken kids into the few emergency rooms this little hospital held.

A nurse was nearly finished sewing up the gash on the back of Dean's head, he sat there with an icepack over his eye and a thermometer hanging out of his pouting mouth.

A clerk came over to Dean with a form on a clip board to sign and a paper sack containing some medication.

"I don't know how you convinced the doctors to let you leave" the nurse sewing him up commented as Dean signed the release papers. "I can only think it's because of those kids" She snipped the last piece of thread then coved the wound with an adhesive bandage. "I do wish you'd stay, at least one night. A concussion is nothing to be toyed with"

"Oh, we know, believe me" Sam stepped forward and accepted the medication bag. "I'll keep a close eye on him and make sure he stays quiet and calm"

The nurse gave him a tired smile and removed the thermometer form Dean's mouth and looked at it. "You get any blurred vision, headaches, fever, nausea, you come straight back, you hear me?"

Dean handed her the ice pack and nodded, wincing as he did so. One eye was nearly swollen shut and the bandage covering his stitches was surrounded by purple bruises, a stark contrast to his pale skin.

Neither man spoke until the nurse had cleared her things and moved away. Dean didn't hop down from the gurney so Sam sat beside him, his head ducked low so his mouth was next to Dean's ear.

"Looks like our demon struck again"

"But the demon was here, Sam. In Howard"

Sam picked at a bit of drywall stuck in his hair. "And that demon smoked out black. The little brother from the party night, he saw white smoke"

Dean sighed. "Well, you thought there might be two. Looks like you were on the money"

Sam peeked in the med bag. "You could make a decent amount of money off this lot" He looked up towards the small window at the top of the ER door. "I asked the ambulance driver from the first victim what happened. Same scenario. They got there as the kids were dying, he didn't think they could revive any of them"

"We should go and check it out" Dean looked at the floor, his face apprehensive. Knowing his brother would never ask for help getting off the gurney Sam stood and then placed a firm hand on his brother's waist and helped lift him down, then held him steady until he didn't look like he was going to fall over.

"You gonna hurl?"

Dean looked a shade that was definitely unhealthy, but he slowly shook his head. "M fine. I think. Stop cuddling me"

Sam released his hold and pointed towards the exit. "Let me get you into the car then I'll have a check back on these kids, see if anyone made it"

"Fine. Don't take too long" Sam shook a couple of pain killers into Dean's hand and watched him swallow them dry after waving away to proffered water bottle.

Sam talked a few of the medical staff, but the news was all bad. The five teenagers that had been rushed in had all passed away.

The sixth was unaccounted for, having fled the scene before help had arrived.

X

X

X

X

The girl moved out of the dim light reflected from the drug store window, and he couldn't see her any more.

But he knew she was there.

He could feel her.

He could almost taste her.

He looked the other way, in the opposite direction, and saw the other girl move out of the light, also now shrouded in darkness.

He smiled to himself. This was good. They were in place, exactly as he had planned.

He turned and looked behind himself. There was the final girl, just arriving now.

All was set. All was ready.

He nodded to the girl behind him and she stepped back into the shadows.

They could wait there.

For now.

Until he summoned them.

He popped his collar against the drizzle damp of the evening and walked away, not looking at the girls, knowing that they would stand, hidden, until he needed them.

Until he called them.

Then, and only then, would they move.

X

X

X

X

Andi yawned and stretched, her shoulders popping with the strain.

"Geez, Louise, you sound like an old man" he brother teased, and she threw a pillow at him.

She yawned again. "This sucks. How is it our fault that some sucky kids overdosed and got themselves killed? Seriously, Vince, why do we have to stay home?"

Her brother leaned over to Andi, his finger pressed against his lips in a _shush_ gesture. "I have a plan" he whispered. "Go off to bed, and I'll tap on your window when all's clear."

Andi smiled at him. "Climb through?"

Vince smirked. "No, teleport, you idiot. Of course, climb through. But wait until I tap, okay?"

She nodded, now happier than she'd been in days.

It hadn't been very much fun, being locked up every night, her parents throwing down a curfew because they were frightened their kids would take drugs and die, like half the teenagers in town seemed to be doing.

Andi and Vince didn't do drugs, and now, with some bad shit making people bleed from every body part they possessed, well, there were never going to start!

They were into jacking cars.

They, and their friends, had discovered this fun a few months ago.

They were hooked on the adrenaline, the rush of hotwiring and taking off on a joy ride until the early hours.

They usually had the car back before dawn, and would creep inside, no one the wiser, except for the poor car owner who would find a slightly dented, empty tanked car right where they left it.

Andi turned back to the television as her parents entered the room, and lay staring at the screen, taking in nothing, biding her time until it seemed a reasonable hour to feign going to bed.

The tap on her window came almost as soon as she had shut her bedroom door.

"Geez, Vince, that was quick. You can't have covered your escape that well"

The tap on her window continued.

"Hang on! Dude, I gotta get changed. Can't go jacking in a bright pink sweater and no coat"

She quickly pulled on a black sweater and jeans and shrugged a warm coat over it, her customary black gloves in place.

The tapping on the window was getting annoying and she felt like giving her brother a slap around the ear.

If he knocked at the glass any louder her parents would hear, and their night life would be ruined.

"Shut up, Vince, will you?" she hissed as loud as she dared, sure that he could hear her.

She pulled a tight knitted cap on and zipped up her boots and stuck her compact flashlight into her pocket.

That's all she needed, their little bag of tricks they used for actually breaking into the cars was stored in the shed outside.

She made sure her bed looked like a figure was sleeping in it, then pulled the curtain over, her face twisted in annoyance and a quick retort ready for her brother.

What she was not ready for was the site that greeted her at her window.

X

Vince was about to crawl out of his bedroom window when he heard his sister scream.

Pulling the window shut he ripped off his coat and hat and ran out of his bedroom door, finding his parents already rushing into his sister's room.

The screaming from Andi was now joined by his mother's anguished cry, and he pushed his way in to see what was happening.

Andi turned to him, her face covered in blood, her clothes already starting to soak through as she pointed at the window, her panicked screams unabated.

Vince moved to the window and pulled the curtain aside.

He wished he hadn't.

X

X

X

X

Sam pulled into the motel parking lot and parked as close as he could to their room door. He knew he may have to give his brother a little support to get inside.

He had told the hospital he was fine, but he was pretty sure he had bruised a couple of ribs, and his back hurt like a bitch.

Being thrown through a wall can do that to you, he thought.

He placed a hand gently on his brother's shoulders and Dean turned his unswollen eye to him, face still pale.

"We're here, Dean. Do you need a hand getting inside?"

Dean opened the card door and swung his legs out, but stayed sitting until Sam rushed around and gave him a hand to his feet.

Dean pushed the helpful hand away as soon as he was on his two feet, but a dizzy sway brought is arm back in panic as he grabbed a handful of Sam's shirt to stop himself from falling.

The taller brother said nothing, he just placed a hand on Dean's elbow and steered him into the motel room, then on to the nearest bed, helping him up and propping some pillows behind him, pulling off his boots.

He moved back to the door to close it when the sirens from ambulances filled the room, the flashing lights a strobe pattern through the thin curtains and open door.

"It's escalating" Dean called out from his bed. "That's twice in one night"

Sam went out to the car and returned with is police scanner, setting it up in the night stand beside Dean. It crackled into life with the reports of the latest victims, a young girl and her brother.

"We gotta stop this. It's getting outta hand"

Sam sat his computer on the table. "I know, but the thing is, Dean, how do we do that? We aren't even sure if we're on the right track"

Dean slipped off the bed, wincing as his feet hit the floor. "We look at it like we're right, then. We know we got at least one demon, and a possible vengeful spirit. We think we know why they're after each other"

Sam nodded, his computer ready now to use.

"So, we got Celia Goodwife, Casselata Afterfall aka Cassie Winters, her granddaughter and her thirteen children." Sam pulled his wad of research from his satchel. "We also got the missing girls, and thanks to Tracie's lap top we have the summoning ritual from the first incident."

Dean pulled a chair from the table, moving stiffly and slowly, not moving his neck at all. He sunk into the chair with a grimace and a painful intake of breath.

"So we're pretty sure it was Cassie's granddaughter that sold her soul, and now is a demon"

Sam nodded. "She was the battered wife in the picture at Tracie's house, and her husband died exactly ten years before she did. To the day"

"And Celia Goodwife was his mom"

"Yeah. That's right. And, um, here. I got it" Sam shuffled the papers. "She reported the granddaughter for murdering her son, but no evidence was found. Celia died within a week from a strange affliction that made her bleed from the eyes, ears and nose"

"And you think the battered wife poisoned Celia"

Sam nodded. "Yeah. And the kids of the town started to call her a witch, and a murderer. They would die off, here and there, from a strange affliction that caused excessive bleeding. It culminated in a harvest festival where every person that attended died from the 'plague'. That was the last thing to happen before Cassie Winters died."

"So, if it's the granddaughter…what's her name?"

"Viktorius Afterfall. They called her Vikki the witch"

"So, this Vikki chick, why didn't she get burned at the stake, or hung, or whatever"

Sam shrugged. "Small town. I dunno, I think maybe they were scared of her"

Dean raised an eyebrow. "Guess that was probably a wise choice. So, let me get this straight. Cemetery kids summoned her and now she's killing teenagers?"

"She's killing a certain type of teenager. Kids that are, you know…."

"Dicks" Dean nodded, then grabbed his forehead. "I gotta stop moving my head"

"You want some more pain killers?"

Dean shook his head, then grabbed it again. "Shit"

"Sorry"

"So" he ran his hand down his forehead and then pinched the bridge of his nose, green eyes closed. "We gotta summon this Vikki and gank her"

"I don't wanna do that until we're sure we can protect ourselves from her"

Dean opened his eyes. "You got an idea?"

Sam gave him a bleak smile. "Yeah, I got an idea"

X

X

X

X

She moved slowly, almost sensually, down the middle of the road. The night had settled on the town like a damp gossamer blanket, the street lights all hallowed in soft sparkles, the dew dripping infrequently from the branches of the trees that lined the street.

Her long hair was covered in millions of misty shimmering droplets that reflected the dim street lights, making her look like a character from an anime adventure.

She stopped at the middle of the intersection, directly in the centre of the cross roads.

She stood quietly for a little while, her head lowered, looking at the ground, her hair hanging long and shielding her face. She stood that way for several minutes, unmoving.

A car drove down the road and she didn't move, she just stood in the middle of the road, head downturned.

The driver easily drove around her, but opened his window and swore at her as he passed.

She didn't react.

After about an hour she lifted her head, her cornflower blue eyes glinting in the street lights.

She raised her arms, hands outstretched, palms up, until she stood there crucified style, still standing in the middle of the road.

Blue sparks started to arc off her hands, popping and exploding in tiny bursts of energy, and rather quickly growing in intensity.

He eyes glowed with the same blue light as they shone out in front of her as if neon torches had taken residence in her face.

When the energy from her hands was arcing as high as the street lamps she threw her head backwards and the energy exploded into four points of light, large lightning bolts, each one flashed out and hit the girls who had been hidden in the shadows.

The blue lights engulfed them and picked them up, lifting them inches from the side walk and enveloping the girls in electrified fingers of blue electricity.

The light seem to infiltrate them, after a few seconds it radiated from their eyes and mouths, the beams flashing high into the night sky like some kind of weird search lights.

The girls writhed and struggled, but the fingers of electricity held them tight, the light growing and growing until all that could be seen, had anybody been looking, were four points of bright blue energy, hovering inches from the ground.

The smell of ozone filled the air and one by one store alarms started to go off, and the odd car that was parked here and there sounded their horns and alarms, headlights flashing on and off as the strange energy triggered the reaction.

The noise and flashing lights become almost overwhelming, until suddenly the blue energy stopped, a thunderclap of silence hit the town centre and the whole street again shrouded in misty darkness as the girls fell to the ground. No more was the blue light, the girls each lay in a heap like tossed garbage.

The alarms and car lights had all stopped, there was no noise except the soft buzzing from the street lamps.

In the middle of the road the beautiful woman smiled as she lowered her hands, the blue power fading to nothing by the time her hands reached her sides.

She nodded her head, just once, then she also collapsed in a heap on the ground, still perfectly centred in the middle of the crossroad, her hair framed out on the asphalt.

In the distance the sirens from emergency vehicles could be heard as the police rushed to the crossroads, eager to investigate the strange occurrence that had been set the shop alarms off.

x

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><p><em><strong>AN...I'll have another chapter up as soon as I can... Please review?**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N...I seem to be always apologising for being late, so I'm not going to do that any more. Okay, maybe this once.**_

_**I'm sorry for being so late!**_

_**Having a few sticky things to deal with, real life is just not what it's cracked up to be, sometimes. I should ask for a refund, I guess...**_

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><p>Dean touched his swollen eye, probing it gently.<p>

"Hurting?" Sam questioned.

"Like a son of a bitch" Dean moaned. Sam got up and fetched his brother a glass of water and shook out a couple more pain killers.

Sitting back at the table again he turned his computer around for Dean to see without having to move his head too much, and pointed to the article he had been researching.

"Cassie Winter's always maintained her children had been murdered. They all died, bar one, on the same night, and the one survivor only lived long enough to bear her daughter three months later. She died in child birth"

Dean leaned forward slightly to read as Sam flicked his computer to the next page.

"Cassie raised her granddaughter. Bet she taught her everything she knew" He leaned his elbows on the table. "What happened to Cassie?"

Sam turned the computer back and typed for a little while. "Huh"

"Huh, what?"

Sam turned the computer back. "Cassie Winters, who bore thirteen children, _all girls_, never married, nor was ever seen in the company of a man. Her children were teased and tormented until the day they died, and Cassie was burned, years later, at the stake"

"So, she _was_ a witch"

"Well, yeah, that seems likely."

"How old was the Vikki the witch when this happened?"

"The granddaughter, Viktorius?" Sam pulled at his stack of papers. "It was the day before she married. That was my_ HUH_. Celia Goodwife was the one that accused Cassie, and then Vikki was forced to marry her son"

Dean frowned. "Why would she want the daughter of a witch married to her son?"

"Cassie Winters owned half the county. She had more land than anyone around and it was reported to be full of gold, a theory later found to be untrue, but upon her marriage all the land holdings passed to the son of Celia Goodwife"

"Interestinger and interestinger. But who is the one killing people now? Is it Celia, Cassie or Vikki?"

"I guess we gotta figure that out, now. You found the link, but now we have to figure out who is who, and why it's happening" Sam ran a hand through his hair. "Are all three of them back?"

Dean leaned back on his chair, the frown lines from pain now a little eased. "See if you can find any of the graves. Looks like we gotta torch the bones of everyone we can, just to be sure. Though if Cassie was burned at the stake, we may not have to do hers"

Sam nodded. "Yeah. Though they probably didn't burn her to ash, just til she was dead."The taller brother sighed. "So, plan is that I make the hex bags to protect us, we summon Vikki and exorcise her. We dig up the bones of all the women and burn them. What do you want to do with the rest of the night?"

Dean smirked. "Funny" he probed his eye gently again. "Well, sounds like a plan, anyway" He gently pushed himself from the table. "I'm gonna lie down a bit. You get to your Martha Stewart craft work and make the hex bags. You okay with that?"

Sam gave him a tight lipped smile. "Yeah, Dean. Fine. You get some rest"

X

X

X

X

"I'm fine. Really" Joanie handed the oxygen mask back to the paramedic. "I think I just fainted."

A uniformed police man stepped over to her. "Well, your statement is the same as the girls. Woke up in the middle of the street, no memory of the last hour or so." He waved towards the street were the emergency staff were just finishing disabling the last alarm. "We think it was a gas leak, the fumes knocked you guys out and then it imploded, setting off the alarms, but causing no real damage"

She looked up at the older man, her hair a tangled mess, damp from the misty night air. "Sounds farfetched to me"

He shrugged. "Yeah. Me too. But I don't have any other idea, so I'm going with that" he gave a nervous laugh.

"I don't know why I would have been here, in the town, so late at night" Joanie pulled at her hair. "And the girls? Do they know what they were doing here?"

The police man turned and looked at the girls, then back at the woman sitting in the ambulance in front of him. She was beautiful. Very beautiful. So much so that his guard was completely down.

"Well, they've all been missing, one for a few hours, right up to one who's been gone for about a week. None of them can remember anything from when they went missing, to when they woke up here"

Joanie felt a chill run down her spine and settle in her stomach. "These girls….um, did they go missing after their friends died? The bleeding victims?"

The cop tipped his head, taking even more interest in this girl. "Yeah. Why?"

Joanie pursed her lips. "My sister was one of the victims"

"Maybe you should come down the station, have a little chat"

She nodded. "Of course. I don't know how much help I'll be, though. I was three states over when she died, and I hadn't seen her in thirteen years"

The cop nodded, mulling over the information. "Where are you staying?"

"The motel on Parkside"

He pulled a card out of his top pocket and handed it to her. "Go back, clean up, get some rest, call me in the morning."

Joanie took the card and nodded. "Sure. Yeah. I don't know how much sleep I'll get, after this"

The policeman turned and took a full sweep of the scene and looked back at her. "Miss, I'm telling you, with all the weird stuff that's been happening in this town? If the Ghostbusters turned up, I wouldn't blink an eye"

Joanie gave him a bleak smile. "I think I agree with you"

A gesture from the cop brought over one of the younger uniforms. "Officer Mc Coll will take you back to the motel."

Joanie stood up and smiled at the policewoman in front of her. "Officer Mc Coll?"

The police woman smiled back at her. "Just call me Linda"

X

He saw everything from where he stood.

And he was angry.

He had heard the alarms and hurried back, but by the time he got here it was all over.

His girls were gone.

More than gone.

They were vanquished.

Dead.

Really dead, this time.

All is effort.

All his preparation.

All for nothing.

Ruined.

By _her._

He had been so ready.

He had worked so hard.

It had taken so long…..

So very long.

And now, it was over.

His plans were laid waste.

He felt his anger grow.

Every time.

Every single, damn time…..

Ruined.

But she, too was gone.

He was sure she'd be back.

He started to form a plan.

His face twisted into a smile.

He could get more girls.

He could.

It wasn't too late.

Not this time.

Yes. She would be back.

This time, though…

This time, he'd be ready.

X

X

X

X

"Wake up" Sam shook Dean's leg, gently, though, aware of his brother's injuries. Every movement also made him aware of his own.

Dean rolled up one eyelid, the other was a little more sluggish, and a distinct shade of purple.

"Yeah?" Dean stretched a little, a deep groan accompanying the movement."What?"

"I'm ready. I've made the protection hex bags and I've found the grave sites. Can you manage? I can go alone, if you, um, if you need to sleep more"

Dean pulled himself up. "Dude, I'm fine. I got knocked to the head. I don't wanna to think about how many times that's happened"

Sam nodded. "Well, either way, I'm driving"

Dean frowned but pulled his boots on by himself. He accepted another couple of painkillers, dry swallowing them before following his brother out to the car.

Just as Sam unlocked the door to the driver's side both men stepped back a little into the shadows as a police car pulled up.

Sam gave his brother a confused look when Joanie stepped out of the car and briefly spoke to the officer before the car drove off.

She turned to her door when she caught sight of the brothers standing there.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked her. "No trouble, I hope?"

Joanie frowned. "Honestly? I'm not sure. The weirdest thing just happened"

Dean stepped forward. "Weird? Weird, how?"

She gasped at his bruised face. "What happened to you? You look like you've been hit by a truck!"

Dean gave her a downturned smile. "Felt like it, too. Nah, we got caught in a gas explosion at the hospital. It's just bruising, really"

Joanie raised one eyebrow. "A gas explosion? Are you serious?"

"Um, actually, they think it was an oxygen explosion" Sam stepped forward. "Why, Joanie?"

She opened her motel door. "You guys had better come inside, I think" She stepped in and waited for them to follow. "I'm really getting _more _than freaked out. It can't be right that there were two gas explosions on the same night"

The boys followed her in, their expressions as confused as hers.

Joanie walked straight over to the small table and picked up a bottle of bourbon. "You guys join me?"

Dean nodded smiled at her. "That sounds like an excellent idea"

Joanie filled them in on her evening, of the memorial service, returning here, then nothing until she woke up in the middle of the road with a paramedic taking her vitals.

"And the other girls were the ones that went missing after the, um, the bleeding thing?" Sam asked her.

"Yeah. The cop said if he saw the Ghostbusters in town he wouldn't be surprised"

She didn't notice the look that passed between the two men as she sipped her bourbon, the burn of the liquid pulling her face into a grimace.

"I honestly don't know what to think. One minute I'm mourning the loss of a sister I hardly knew, the next, I'm stuck in a Twilight Zone episode and I have no idea which way to turn!"

Sam nodded. "This must be very difficult for you. My partner and I were just headed out to see about stopping some of the things happening here. We're actually staying two doors down."

Joanie gave a little nod. "How are you going to stop this? I mean, do you even know what's causing this? Because the cops seem not to know _anything_"

Sam stood up from the small chair he'd been perched on, Dean following suit. "We've got a few more resources than they have" Dean told her as he looked up to Sam.

"Yeah. And we'll get this fixed. Trust us" Sam offered her his trademark rumpled brow puppy dog eyed look and she smiled back at him.

"I believe you. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Just get some rest, Joanie. We'll take it from here"

x

Dean headed straight to the car and climbed into the passenger side. "Dude, this is getting very weird"

"I agree with you there. "Let's just torch those bones, for a start, and see if that helps"

"Ah, digging up a grave. I'm sure that's what the doctor meant when she said to treat this concussion seriously"

Sam glanced at his brother and was pleased to see the hint of a smile on his lips. "Our lives are weird, man"

Dean looked back at him. "Not as weird as this town. This is one crazy job, dude"

"Yeah. I'm with you there"

X

X

X

X

X

Joanie watched them drive off then walked back into the motel room. She picked up the bottle of bourbon and placed it to her lips, chugging down almost all of it in one hit.

Placing the bottle back on the table, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and grabbed a jacket. She shrugged it on and left the motel, pulling the door shut behind her.

She started to walk, her boot heels clicking on the pavement and echoing into the quiet night.

She walked for a while towards the town centre, then abruptly turned before she hit the main area of activity, the fire engines and emergency personnel were just packing up.

As she walked a young girl fell in behind her, almost in perfect step, and they walked like this for a few blocks.

Finally they paused at the side of the road, the young girl now coming up to stand at her shoulder.

"That is the cemetery?" Joanie asked.

"Yes. It is" the young girl started to cross the road. "We had best make haste. They are already unearthing the graves"

Joanie moved to follow the girl.

They were walking much faster now, nearly running, as they moved into the unfenced graveyard and headed towards the centre.

The flicker of flashlights could now been seen ahead, large trees were scattered about the cemetery and for the most part hid all activity, but they could still make out the position of the hunters.

"They have reached the coffins!" exclaimed the young girl a d she rushed ahead.

Joanie also started to run, but stopped as she reached the clearing that held the hunters and the mounds of dirt from two open graves.

Sam looked at her in surprise as his brother flicked a burning matchbook into the hole, and she collapsed, screaming, as the bones burned in their grave.

The spirit that had been possessing her lifted from her very conscious body and disappeared in a brief instant of fire, leaving her lying there, shock and fear paralysing her movements.

The young girl turned and looked down at Joanie. "No!" she cried as she turned back to the hunters and raised her hand. "You must not do this!"

Sam flicked another matchbook into the grave he had been standing near, and the girl screamed as the spirit inside her lifted and burned, passing out as she fell, her small body crumpled into the grass in a damp heap.

Joanie just lay on the ground, panting, till she felt strong hands lift her up into a sitting position.

"Joanie? Are you okay?" Sam crouched before her, his face lined with concern.

"What...what was that? What happened?" she coughed, her thought ash dry. "How did I get here?"

Dean moved towards them. "Joanie? Do you remember talking to us earlier?"

She looked up at him, her brow scrunched in confusion. "At the motel? We had a drink? Yeah, I do, I remember that. But then you left, and..." she looked at Sam. "I don't know, it's like everything goes blank after that until just now"

Sam grabbed her hand and helped her to her feet. "We're just going to fill in these graves, Joanie. It won't take long. Then me and my brother will take you back to the motel"

She looked over at the mounds of dirt. "Graves? Oh...I'm in a cemetery. What's going on here? What's happening?" She rang a hand through her tangled hair. "Your brother? Your partner is your brother?"

Dean picked up his shovel and stabbed it into the mounded dirt. "Yeah. About that" he gave her a little smile. "This may seem strange. Well, it may not, considering all that's happened. But Sammy and me? Not really FBI"

She tilted her head a little. "You_ said_ you were homeland security."

Dean turned to face her, he smile bright, his swollen eye barely open. "Hmmm. Not so much"

She looked back at Sam. "What's going on here, Sam? What's happening? And who are you guys?"

"_I can answer that_" a gruff voice called out and all three spun to see a young man standing there in the shadows, his face grim as he glared at them.

He raised his hands and all three, hunters and woman together, were flung back into the ground.

"_But I think I need a few answers myself, first_" he brushed his hands together and stepped forward. "_And I think I'd be happy to do anything to get them_"

"Oh, crap" hissed Sam as he scuttled backwards, trying to gain purchase on the damp grass.

"Son of a bitch" Dean tried to sit up, but the man raised his hands again and flung them all even further away.

He looked at Joanie as she sat, stunned, her heart pounding in fear. "_You? You I don't need_" He snapped his fingers and she fell in a lifeless heap.

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><p><em><strong>AN... till I get my insignificant issues under control, I will only promise that I will get a chapter a week up. I'll try for more, I just won't promise anything...**_

_**Please review? Make this saggy old heart sing, it would...**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N... (Insert comment here)...**_

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><p>"I do believe you may have acted with too much haste" a woman's voice caught the attention of the three men as the owner of the voice came into view.<p>

It was a the young girl that had been with Joanie, now awake, standing tall, her hair blowing in an unseen breeze, her eyes glowing with bright white light.

The young man looked at her and took a step back. "They burned your bones!" he pointed to the hunters "I saw them! They burned your bones!"

The young girl shook her head. "You silly, silly thing. They were not _my_ bones. They were bones of my family members, but not mine. That was your first mistake"

The young fellow looked at her, confusion written across his handsome face. "My _first_ mistake?" He stepped back a little, towards the hunters, his arms held out before him. "I'm thinking the mistakes may be yours. You are alone. The body you are riding looks fragile. You know you have never been any match for me and my powers in the past. I'm thinking the mistake is yours, from this one, and more!"

The girl shook her head. "I am not alone. I am never alone. Foolish, foolish one, have you not learned this over the ages?"

The boy backed up further, bringing him closer to the hunters.

Dean pulled out his flask of holy water and flung the contents at the young man. The boy hissed as the water burned and he fell backwards, even closer to the hunters, his mouth open in a silent scream.

Dean poured the water into the open mouth, and was surprised when white smoke billowed out from the young man's face instead of the usual black.

He looked at Sam, seeing the same confused expression he was sure he himself sported, then looked back at the man lying prone now, the white smoke having disappeared.

The sound of slow clapping caught his attention. The young girl walked towards them as she clapped, her face a picture of triumph.

"Well done, I must say" she laughed. "You have made my job so much easier. Of course, you have also made a rather terrible error of judgment" She looked down on the groaning young man. She winked at him and he jerked, then became still and silent.

"So, what do I do with my two trouble makers here?" she asked as she looked up at the hunters. "Clearly you are not normal people, you have knowledge of some sorts. I wonder just how much you know"

Dean grunted as he pushed himself into a sitting position as Sam moved backwards until a tree stopped his progress. His eyes flickered briefly towards his brother. Dean ducked an eyebrow, just a fraction, but it was enough.

To anyone else it looked like a frightened glance between two trapped men.

The Winchesters were not frightened, and did not intend to stay trapped for long.

"We know enough to cause you a bit of trouble, bitch" Dean yelled at her and moved to one side, away from Sam.

"Bitch? Aaahh" she sighed and shook her head. "This world has become strange, when a man would speak to a young lady in such a way"

Dean gave a short bark of a laugh. "Lady? You aint no lady, you haggard dead crone. Just because you've stuffed yourself into some teenage meat suit don't mean you're a young lady"

She frowned. He was way too cocky, this one. She raised a hand towards him just as Sam grabbed the sawn off he'd been reaching for and let fire both barrels at her.

The impact sent her flying, a multitude of salt pellet cuts covering her neck and chest. Sam jumped up, reaching a hand to Dean to help him on his feet without looking or stopping and both boys raced over to the girl.

Sam stood over her, his shot gun aimed at her face, but she lay still, the shallow salt cuts oozing blood, mercifully her chest rose and fell. Dean pulled out a second flask and poured holey water on the girl, but she didn't move.

"I think it's jumped out of her."

A moan behind them brought the shot gun around as Joanie's eyes fluttered open.

"What...What happened?" she whispered.

Sam handed the gun to his brother and stepped over to her, offering his hand to help her up. "I thought you were dead"

Joanie gave him a shaky smile. "I thought I was, too. What was that? What happened?"

Turning around to look at his brother but keeping hold of Joanie's hand Sam shrugged. "That was trouble. We need to get you out of here"

Joanie pulled his hand to get him to turn back to her. "Out of here? To where? Am I safe in my motel room? Coz, I was there when this happened, so I don't think so."

Dean bent down to the girl on the ground. "Well, jail bait's alive, and junior meat sack over there is starting to move, so I think we got three for three, here, Sammy." He looked up to his brother. "Let's get the civvies outta here and then deal with this"

"Yeah. Good. Okay" Sam looked down at his hand that Joanie was holding. She clutched it tight, no sign she was letting go. "Um, Joanie?" he held the clasped hand up.

"I don't want to go back there. I don't want to be alone" she whispered.

Sam turned his head to look at Dean, who gave him a little nod. "Okay. Wait while we pack up, and get these kids some help"

X

X

X

X

The presence of police in the hospital was once again a higher ratio than hospital staff, though this was not surprising given all the events that had happened this night, and over the last few days.

An ambulance pulled up into the bay, lights flashing but sirens off. Already busy staff rushed over to take the two new patients, relief clear in their features as these two were able to walk off the ambulance, sitting them in wheelchairs as a precaution only.

It was a change from all of the deceased and dying people they had been dealing with lately.

One police officer watched the two new patients, a young girl, covered in small cuts and bruises like she'd been hit with buckshot, and a dazed looking young man. The police woman's face was grim, her brow wrinkled.

"This is not going to plan" a voice beside her growled and she nodded.

"I agree. What is our next move? Do you have a plan B?"

The figure beside the policewoman moved forward into the light, revealing herself to be a nurse, fully uniformed, but much older than the police woman. "We did not have another plan. We had thought our success was assured this time." She sighed and pulled a watch from her top pocket. "The night is waning. We do not have enough time to finish anything now."

The police woman turned to face her. "Should we instead prepare for tomorrow night?"

The nurse nodded. "Yes. This would be agreeable. We should prepare today and have everything ready for tonight, when we can try again, uninterrupted."

The policewoman opened her mouth to speak but snapped it shut when two orderlies walked passed.

She waited until there was no one within ear shot. "What of the hunters?"

The nurse bit her bottom lip, contemplating her options. "I shall leave them to you. Are you capable of this task?"

The police woman smiled, her beautiful face twisted into a feral grimace that was barely a resemblance of a human expression. "Of course. And I shall enjoy it" She looked at her cap as she turned it around in her hands, then placed it on her head. "I shall start at first light"

"Hey Mc Coll, get your ass over here!" called out another uniformed police officer.

"I shall contact you once I have taken care of the hunters" The police woman tapped the top of her hat. "Coming, Sarge" she called out.

"I will have everything else started, and will await your call" the nurse turned without another word and walked away.

Mc Coll walked over to her Sergeant. "Yes, boss?"

He slapped her shoulder. "Been a long day, girl. Why don't you take off? Nothing else much happening here."

She shrugged. "You sure? I mean, what if something else happens?"

He nodded. "I'm sure, Linda. I'm sending pretty much everyone home. I need everyone rested and replenished, just in case hell breaks out again. Cool?"

Mc Coll smiled at him and nodded. "Cool. Thanks heaps, Sarge. I appreciate this" She walked out of the building without looking back. This was an unexpected bonus, being able to leave her duties early.

She got into the closest police car and started it but didn't immediately drive off.

After about fifteen minutes a young woman walked up to the car and got in.

Linda Mc Coll looked at her. "You're late"

The woman looked straight ahead through the front windscreen. "I was having difficulty finding a suitable person to wear"

The police woman backed the car out. "It is not always about the look. Any person will do. They don't have to be attractive or young"

The woman turned to her. "Then why do you always choose attractive young women? If what you say is true you would have occasionally worn a large person, or an old one, or even a man"

Linda pulled the car out onto the main road. "I like nice things. I don't see what the problem is with that"

"There is no problem. But you need to stop chastising me when I choose a pretty girl. I like to wear pretty girls"

"Fine. I understand. Just do not take so long next time"

"Do you have a plan?"

Linda nodded. "We kill them."

The younger woman frowned, her expression a little shocked. "Isn't that perhaps an overreaction?"

Linda shook her head just once. "No. It is not" She paused as she turned the corner. "They are hunters. Out of all of our adversaries, they are the ones that can end us. For all time. They have the means and the know how to ensure our existence is erased. I shall not have that. I shall not be erased. _I shall not!"_ She took a breath, shaky, and blinked hard, an attempt to calm herself.

"They must be taken out of the equation. We shall kill them. Before we do anything else."

They drove in silence for a few minutes until the young girl again turned to Linda. "Why was that woman used twice?"

"The long haired woman? Joanie?"

"Yeas, I believe that is her name. Why was she possessed by the spirit first, then by Celia? Why did that happen? Is there perhaps something special about her?"

Linda smiled. "Have you not figured it out yet? I am surprised. Usually, you have your ideas and theories, and see through to the very heart of the matter. This time, are you really unsure why two sides battled for the one woman?"

"Her? It's_ her_, isn't it? Oh my, after all this time! I am…well, I am speechless!"

"As was I" Linda gave the younger woman a nod as he glanced at her. "As was I. But here she is"

X

X

X

x

"You sure you don't want the bed? I mean, I don't think I could sleep anyway" Joanie sipped her whiskey and sat the glass down. "I've put you guys our enough already, I don't want to take your bed from you, too"

Sam ran a hand up over his forehead and through his long hair. "I don't think any of us will be getting much sleep. My brother and I" he nodded towards Dean, who was fiddling with the coffee pot "need to get this sorted out and solved before anyone else gets hurt"

"Can you tell me what happened to me? Was I, um, possessed? Is that what you call it?"

Sam accepted the coffee cup Dean handed him. "Yes. By a ghost"

Dean handed Joanie a mug of sweet, steaming brew. "Can you tell us the last thing you remember before you blacked out?"

Joanie looked up at Dean. I remember, um, I think I remember, this sort of white, I don't know, mist? Smoke? It swirled around me then it…Oh my God, I think it went in my mouth! Was that it? Was that the ghost?"

Dean pulled out the last chair and turned it around. Straddling it, he faced the confused woman as he took a sip of his hot coffee. "White smoke? Are you sure?"

Joanie nodded. "Yes. I remember. It was weird. But then I don't remember what happened after that. Not until I woke up in the street, a paramedic checking me out"

The hunters exchanged glances. "Think back, later, when we saw you with the policewoman. You remember all of that?" Sam asked her.

"Police woman? Oh, yeah, she gave me a lift home. But, gosh, I can remember getting in the police car, but not getting home. I vaguely remember having a drink with you guys, but not much about it. And then, nothing, nothing at all until I woke up on my back in the graveyard with you guys"

She sat her coffee down. "This is all related to what happened to my sister, isn't it? This weird stuff? It's all about ghosts and stuff?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah. All of it. It's all connected, and it's all based around this town. Well, this town and you"

"Me? Why me?"

The door to the motel crashed open, the lock broken, the door jamb splinted and flying in pieces into the room.

"That's exactly what I asked" Said the young woman, standing at the door with the uniformed police woman.

Dean grabbed the sawn off from the middle of the table.

The police woman raised one arm and the gun flew from his grasp and hit the wall.

"We'll have none of that, now boys"

x

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><p><em><strong>AN... Yeah, I got nuthin'. Please leave a review, if you could. I have so loved everyone's comments...**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N...Welcome back...**_

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><p>Sam pushed his chair backwards, hitting the wall as he leapt up, pulling Joanie away from the table as he moved.<p>

Dean tumbled sideways off his chair, crouched low, both men ready to fight, until they both realized the women at the door were still doing that, just standing at the door.

"Salt" hissed Sam. "They can't enter coz of the salt line"

The police woman's eyes flashed in anger. "What is this? You try to stop us from entering?"

Sam grabbed the shotgun that had been propped against the wall and let both barrels go at the door way, peppering the two women with salt pellets.

They screamed and fell back, Dean was quick to his feet to slam the door and re salt the area.

"We need to get out of here, Sammy" he called to his taller brother.

"Yeah, right there with you" Sam was already stuffing their belongings into their respective duffels as the women began pounding at the door. "They won't stay outside for long"

Joanie grabbed the computer and things off the table and began packing them away, then slung the bag over her shoulder, ready with the men to take flight as soon as they were clear.

Dean had retrieved his shot gun and now all three stood, each with a bag, the two men with a gun, facing the door to the motel room.

The pounding ceased.

"That can't be good" Dean bit at his lower lip. He moved forward and peered through the peep hole in the door. "They're gone" He opened the door and peered out. "Cop car's still here"

"Should we make a run for it?" Joanie asked.

Dean looked around, taking a step out of the door.

"I can't see anyone. Sam?"

"Ready" the taller brother moved towards the door, then pulled his shotgun up and pointed it as Dean jumped backwards.

The women had returned. The police woman pointed a fire extinguisher at the salt line and fired, the salt dissipating in a pile of foam and mist. Sam let both barrels off, his brother joining him.

This time the women fell back, but rushed forward within a split second of the shots, gaining entry into the small motel room.

The door slammed behind them with an ominous thump.

"I have had enough of this foolishness!" growled the police woman as she stepped forward.

He face twisted with rage when she was halted, an invisible barrier preventing her from moving any further into the room. She snarled and looked at the younger woman, who also was trapped.

Dean looked at the roof and the women followed his gaze.

"A devils trap? Really?" The younger woman stamped her foot in anger. "You cannot hold us in a devil's trap!"

Dean shrugged. "And yet, here you are"

She growled, her eyes flashing in anger. The younger woman howled in animalistic range.

"Now now now, young lady, that's no way to behave" Dean looked over at Sam and Joanie. They were fine. Sam gave him a quick glance and a nod to affirm their actions. "We have a coupla questions for you girls, then we'll see about sending you home"

The police woman snarled again, her face twisted into a feral mask of anger. "Let me out you filthy pus bag. Let me out before I rend the very flesh from your bones" She growled.

"So, you Cassie the witch?" Dean asked. She looked at him, her face showing surprise that she quickly shook off, replacing it again with anger. "No. I am not. Cassie was my mother"

Sam moved closer. "So, that's one of your sisters with you?" The younger girl gave him a dark look, her hands clenched into fists. "We managed to burn another two of your sisters, looks like we have a bit more digging to do"

"You cannot find my bones. You cannot destroy me" the younger girl tipped her chin up defiantly.

"Look, sister, there are things we can do that you don't know yet. Such as catching a spirit in a modified devil's trap. We can find your bones, and lay you to rest for all time"

The police woman snarled. "You will let us go. Now. Before my mother comes for us"

"No, I don't think so. I think we need to find out just what is going on here" Dean pulled a chair over and sat down facing the women, his shot gun straddled on his lap. "How bout I tell you what I know, and you fill in the blanks?"

The women looked at each other. They didn't speak, but turned back to the hunter. "You are wasting our time. Release us"

"I'm thinking _no_. What I'm thinking, is that you two girls are two of Cassie Winter's children. I'm thinking you were murdered, along with your sisters, and now are stuck avenging your own and your mother's deaths over and over"

They didn't answer.

"And little niece Vikki is now a demon, come to help you all out. Little Vikki learned a few witchy tricks from her grandmother, one of which was how to kill by making people bleed from the eyes, nose, ears and mouth." He looked at the girls, but saw no surprise, no denial, no reaction at all to what he was saying. "Am I on the right track here? No hints or clues?"

He looked over at Sam. The taller man shrugged then grabbed his lap top. He toggled through the pages then sat next to his brother, shot gun propped by his leg. "Vikki has come back to help you. We're pretty sure of that. She was triggered by the summoning of Cassie Winters. Now, this happens every few years until someone stops you. We think we know who that someone is"

The women just looked at him. Sam nodded, then placed his computer back on the table.

"See, um, we think Cassie summoned an ancient power to have a child. She stumbled on an artefact and used that to summon Hermanatie, bringer of life to barren wombs, and used this to create her first child. I'm thinking that was you, Linda"

The police woman frowned but didn't answer.

"Then, girls, good ole Ma used the charm to make another twelve babies. All girls" Dean leaned forward a little. "But we're thinking old Hermany didn't like the abuse of his gifts, and came to stop her by taking back all of the children, and leaving only one, _you_, Linda, coz you had used the charm to get yourself pregnant. As soon as the baby was born he took you, too, leaving little Vikki for Celia to raise. Am I getting through to you yet?"

Sam leaned forward, mirroring his brother's position. "Hermanatie has been following you ladies through the decades, finding you each time you're summoned and putting a stop to you. But, me and my brother, we think you've had enough of that, and are going to try to banish Hermanatie once and for all"

Dean looked back at Joanie, who had taken a seat on one of the beds, her face a mask of shock. "We also know what our little friend here has to do with everything"

"You cannot know that! _You cannot_!" yelled the younger woman the police woman grabbed her arm to restrain her.

"I think they have figured it out" Linda nodded. "But you cannot do anything about it. You cannot burn our bones because we were already burned. Our spirits have not been tethered to our earthly remains like our two sisters. You cannot destroy us"

"She is right. You cannot" Joanie moved forward. "Not without my help, you cannot"

Dean and Sam leapt up from their chairs as Joanie moved closer to the two woman held in the devil's trap.

Her eyes were white, and her hair moved as if an unseen breeze tousled through it. She blinked and the white in her eyes was replaced by her usual bright blue coloring.

"They have figured out almost everything, and they are right, you are Linda and Cecily. You two girls should not have been born, nor should your spirits be here to torture and kill. It should never have happened"

Sam raised his gun. "You're Hermanatie"

Joanie looked over at him. "I am. I am here to right the wrongs that have been wrought in my name" She sighed and looked back at the women. "This time shall be the last time. You shall wander this earth no more"

"You can't do anything to us. You don't have the power" the younger woman scoffed.

Joanie raised her arms, her palms facing the ceiling as a small blue spark started to dance on each one. The sparks grew and started to arc, popping and snapping, filing the air with the acrid smell of ozone. She stood facing the woman, her arms stretched out wide, palms flat as the blue electricity leapt and danced on her hands, growing each moment in intensity.

Her eyes filled with the same blue power and as the intensity grew Dean grabbed a handful of Sam's shirt, pulling him as far back and away from Joanie as the small hotel room would allow.

The television in the corner shook, then the screen burst out like an exploding bomb.

The clock radio jumped and a puff of blue electrical smoke lifted up from the top of the casing.

Dean and Sam watched in morbid fascination as Joanie let her head fall back, facing the ceiling, the blue light from her palms dancing and meeting the light in her eyes.

Suddenly Joanie's head snapped forward and the blue energy leapt from her to hit the two women, filling them with its light and lifting them from the floor.

They writhed as the light swirled around them like a twisted string of glowing Christmas tinsel, then it stopped, just as suddenly, and without warning.

The two girls fell to the ground along with Joanie, who collapsed into a lifeless heap.

For a few moments the motel room was silent, no one moved, no one breathed.

Dean let out a huge rush of breath. "_What the fuck_?"

"Right back atcha" Sam agreed. "That thing has power"

"Yeah. I guess we won't be seeing our security deposit again" He stepped away from the wall and gingerly leaned over Joanie. "Well, she's breathing"

Sam bent to her and touched her forehead. Groaning, Joanie turned onto her back, and opened her eyes, looking straight into Sam's upside down face. "Am I dead?" she croaked.

Dean gave a little laugh. "I don't think that's the face of heaven there, sugar"

"Funny, Dean. Here, let me help you up" Sam moved beside her and supported the woman onto the bed.

"What happened to me?" Joanie asked him, her voice a frightened whisper.

"You, um, well, you were kinda possessed"

Joanie's face turned white and she closed her eyes, swallowing convulsively.

"You okay, Joanie? Do you need to throw up?" Sam touched her shoulder.

She shook her head. "I don't need to throw up, I think. But I don't think I'm okay, either"

Dean checked on the two unconscious girls on the floor. "These two are breathing. Okay, dude, I think we gotta get outta here before they wake up. I don't wanna be here when cop lady and young girl wake up in a strange motel room"

Sam grabbed his duffel and threw Dean's over to him, then turned to Joanie. "You okay to walk?"

She looked up at him, her wide blue eyes pinched with far. "You want me to come with you?"

"I think we _need_ you to come with us. And I don't think you want to be left alone, do you?" Sam asked her.

"I think I can walk" she answered and stood from the bed. "I'm okay, yeah, I can walk"

"Alrighty, then. Let's hustle" Dean opened the motel door and ushered the others out to the car.

X

X

X

X

The soft fingers of light started to caress the town as the sun lifted its head over the horizon. The hospital was still a hive of activity, while not as busy as the night before it was still surrounded by police cars and ambulances, the cars of victim's family members clogging the car park to overflowing.

The nurse moved out of the sliding emergency entry doors and stood for a moment, watching the sun rise. She watched it until it cleared the horizon, then stuffed her hands in her pockets. She seemed angry, impatient, one foot was tapping.

After several minutes seemed to come to a decision, her hands now pulled free from her uniform pockets, she stood, legs slightly apart, her head tipped towards the brightening sky.

Throwing back her head, a plume of black smoke flowed from her mouth in a silent scream, billowing out into the early morning before leaving the empty meat suit of the middle aged nurse falling to the black top in a crumpled, semi lifeless heap.

A shout from inside the glass door brought help, several people rushed to assist the fallen woman as the unnoticed billowing smoke menacingly flew off into the distance.

X

X

"Hurry up, Suzy, your dad needs the shower!" called the female voice, a mom getting breakfast ready down stairs in the kitchen for her large, busy family.

Suzy turned off the shower and stepped out, wrapping a towel around her hair and pulling on her bath robe in one quick movement. She knew not to make dad late, he would be grumpy and yell if she took more than her allotted time.

She rushed out of the bathroom, stream swirling around her, to find her father waiting impatiently, towel around his shoulders. She gave him a contrite smile and hurried into her bedroom.

The room was cold, she had left the window ajar and the morning chill had seeped in. As she moved towards the window to close it something caught her eye, just flitting beyond her peripheral vision.

She turned and gasped as a plume of black smoke headed towards her.

X

x

The breakfast table was full, mom had sat with her eldest daughter beside her, the three younger sons, one nephew who had lived there for four years and her mother sat opposite her.

Dad came in, still scrubbing his hair with a towel as he took his seat. "Where's Suzy?" he asked.

"She's still upstairs. Maybe give her a yell or everyone will be late" his wife replied.

He turned to find his youngest daughter standing there, but not dressed in her sports uniform as this day should normally find her. Instead, she sported a very short skirt, racy mid riff top, and way too much make up.

"Young lady, you march your heiny right back up stairs and get changed! You look like a child prostitute!" her dad roared.

Suzy raised one eyebrow in a perfectly plucked arch. "I think not, old man. I do like this adornment on this nubile young flesh. I can see the boys are admiring my attire, as well"

The boys giggled behind their hands as mom stood, her mouth open in horror as dad's face glowed bright red in his growing anger. "Now, young lady, march up those stairs before I tan your behind!"

Suzy cocked one hip and flicked he long blonde hair over her shoulder. "You should really watch your blood pressure, old man. It does not become you to shout, so. And close your mouth, woman, you are gaping like a cod fish"

The mom snapped her mouth shut with an audible click.

"What? _What_?" roared the father.

"How articulate of you. Now I shall have to leave, as I do not have much time to achieve all I have before me today"

The father grabbed her by the arm as she turned towards the door. "I don't think you'll be going anywhere today, girl!"

Suzy twisted her head to around to face him, her eyes black. "I shall ask you only once. Let me go. Now"

The dad let his hand drop, his red face quickly losing all color as he looked at his youngest daughter, her eyes coal black, her expression one of supreme hate, and the very essence of evil dripped from her like a plague from hell.

He took a step back as she shook her head, the black eyes disappearing and the bright young smile taking its customary place back on her pink lips. "That's better. Do not wait up. I have a full schedule for the day, and a very eventful, and very late, evening planned" she turned and left the room, the sound of the front door closing soon after.

The mom collapsed in a dead faint as the father turned, still too shocked to move.

x

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><p><em><strong>AN...Next week for next chapter. Please review, if you can.**_

_**Thanks...**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**A/N... I have been sick. I still am, I ended up with this wretched flu. Then, instead of posting a new chapter here, I decided I would enter the Big Bang Challenge, so wrote up a 20,000 word story for that. (In one day. Yay for me) So, I know, I have been so late in posting, but I'll try to make sure it doesn't happen again...**_

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><p>x<p>

"So why me? Why do they keep coming after me?" Joanie lifted her head from her hands and looked from one brother to the other, her face twisted in a pale, confused expression.

Sam turned in the passenger seat of the car and gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "It's bad luck, really. You are the only surviving descendant of Viktorius Afterfall. See, we figured out Vikki had a daughter who was only a baby when her father died, then after Vikki passed she was raised by the church, and most records of her were lost or destroyed."

Sam handed her a photocopied page from an old book. "Here, look, this makes you a double descendant. You are the only survivor of the Afterfall or Winters bloodline, and that also makes you a descendant of Hermanatie"

Joanie frowned. "Is that why they got my sister?"

"No. No, we don't think so" Sam flicked a glance at Dean. "See, your sister was not a descendant. This came down from your mother's line, not your father's. Your mother, she passed away, didn't she?"

Joanie nodded. "Yeah. She did, when I was a baby, I'm adopted. And my mother, she was an only child. So was her mother...hey, now that you said something, as far back as I know, we were always girls, and always only children!"

Dean turned his car into an industrial estate and slowed, looking for an empty building. "See, Joanie, that was what this Herman dude did. He gave one child. _One._ When Cassie abused the gift and got herself knocked up with thirteen kids, well, old demi god Herman cracked the sads and took matters into his own hands."

"He killed all of the girls"

"Yup. Bled from the eyes, nose mouth, etcetera"

Sam handed Joanie another paper. "Hermanatie keeps coming back to put a stop to the restless spirits that are killing teenagers every few decades. But there's two other players, here. Vikki the witch is hanging around, we aren't real sure of her agenda at this stage, and Celia Goodwife is always trying to stop her and the kids. So, you kinda have three different parties wrestling for control of you"

Joanie groaned. "Three? There's three demons trying to possess me?"

"No, no, not three demons" Sam replied. "You got a spirit, a demon, and a demi god. So, um, I guess that's not as bad?"

"Nothin' like the silver lining, there, Sammy" Dean muttered as he pulled the car into the drive of a very empty looking warehouse, a dilapidated 'For Sale' board leaning precariously at the front.

"You're caught up in a battle between these guys, coz something about your bloodline makes whoever possesses you stronger" Sam turned as Dean pulled up to the roller door. "Here? Really, Dean? It looks like it's condemned"

"Pretty much what we're used to. No one will look for us here"

"I don't understand" Joanie sounded close to panic. "Why can't you stop them getting in me, you know, taking possession of me?"

Dean turned to face her. "Well, here's the thing. We kinda need the help of old Herman to help gank the other guys. If we stop anyone from possession you, we don't have much chance" He paused, taking in her near panic, her fear radiating from the rear seat in waves. "But we'll only do this if you're okay with it. We won't force you. If you want, we can protect you from these things and they'll never get near you"

Joanie looked back at him, then met the soft, emotional eyes of Sam. She sighed.

"I don't want to, of course I don't. But if we can get the things that killed my sister and those other kids, then I think it's something I have to do" she took a deep breath. "Yes. I'll do it. But you guys have to be right there with me"

"Of course" Sam told her.

"Let's get inside, and we'll work out a plan" Dean got out to open the roller door as Sam slid across to drive the car in.

"So you guys hang out in abandoned buildings all the time?"

Sam gave her a smile in the rear view. "Only sometimes. No one will expect us to be here"

"Then how will Hermanatie find us?"

Sam moved the car in as far as he could and Dean closed the roller door behind them. "He hasn't had any trouble before, so I guess there's no reason to think he will now"

"Great. I have a supernatural beacon"

The abandoned building wasn't so bad inside, there was an office area that had a couch and a few chairs surrounding a usable table.

"So who was the boy at the cemetery?" asked Joanie when they had all taken a seat, Sam with his computer open at the table in front of him.

"I'm thinking that was Hermanatie. Because of the white smoke. Demons are usually black smoke" Dean explained.

"Have you seen the demon?"

"Yeah. She's the one that hit us at the hospital. Don't know where she is now, though"

"So who was in me at the cemetery? God, that sounds so dirty"

"That was one of Cassie Winters' thirteen children. There was another in the girl. Good news, though" Sam told her. "We burned their bones, so they won't be back"

"Wasn't there thirteen kids?" Joanie gave him a pained expression.

Dean Leaned forward, elbows on the table. "There were three girls in the town with you, weren't there? If Hermy-guy zapped them like the two in our motel room, then that means five are down. That leaves only four spirits to deal with"

Sam smiled at his brother. "Dude. That leaves eight. And the grandmother, Cassie. Nine"

"Great. I'm sure that helps." Joanie yawned.

"Why don't you lay down on that couch for a while, Joanie?" Sam suggested. "We got a couple of things to do, you may as well grab a little sleep, if you can"

"I don't think I can sleep with everything that's happened" she answered, but lay down anyway.

Within minutes they could hear her soft snore. Sam looked over at his brother. "I bet she hasn't slept for days"

"Know what that feels like" Dean grumbled.

X

X

X

X

"Okay, kids, you know the drill. Mr Hammerstead's late, so just go ahead and make your breakfasts, I'll let you know what to do if he doesn't show" called the English teacher, Mrs. Williams.

The class of teenagers mumbled their replies and did as they were told, this was the 'troubled' kids class, about sixteen youths that had been caught by the law, or been reported by social workers as being a risk. Mr Hammerstead ran the class, starting the day with a nutritional breakfast for these children, and he mentored them throughout their school day, and most of the time, way beyond school hours.

It wasn't like him to be late, but it also was not entirely out of the ordinary, as he often picked one of his troubled students from the police station in the morning.

As they all made their various breakfast meals they wandered over to the common area where they sat on various bean bags, cushions, or straight onto the shaggy grey rug.

"Hey guys, you hear what happened last night?" A young dark haired girl spoke up.

"Yeah. I heard. Andi and Vince." A red haired fellow stuffing his face with a bagel answered her. "Man, that sucks. I was supposed to go with them last night, too"

"Did you see what happened?" the dark haired girl asked him.

"No. I didn't. I only saw the police and the ambulance all around the house. But I heard them talking. It was the same thing that killed the other kids"

"Really? Like, the witch thing?"

"Geez, you are a real retard, aren't you?" another girl propped herself in the middle of the kids. "That's all bullshit. There's some kind of virus that's killing people. My dad told me"

"Your dad is a crack head that never comes home. He wouldn't know a virus if it drove a bus over him"

The blonde threw a pillow at the boy who had said that. "Seriously, you guys, how can a witch kill people? I mean, _seriously_, I've heard so many stories. Like, you know, if you say Celia Goodwife backwards three times you'll call her. Or if you say Cassie Winters three times, or say their names together, they appear and you all die"

"Cool. But you know, it's been done. Like the Candyman movie. Or Bloody Mary" The boy talking yawned and stretched his arms over his head. "Why don't they think of something cooler? Like the Exorcist, when the demon comes in and posses that girl. Or, you know, killer zombies. I love me a good zombie movie"

"This is real life, douche bag" The blonde girl kicked his feet. "Not the movies. But you're right. It's like, the more it get's told, the stupider it gets. Cassie Winters, Celia Goodwife, blah blah blah"

"Yeah, I know, right? My mom used to scare me with Cassie Winters stories when I was little. She would say…" the girl's voice drifted off as the overhead lights flickered.

"Well, that's weird!" laughed the boy, but they all gasped and squealed when the globes blew and the room shook.

Just as suddenly as the shaking started, it stopped.

The kids looked around at each other, wide eyed, not quite sure of what had just transpired.

"Fuck me. Was that an earth quake?"

A few short, nervous laughs and a squeal started to break the tension, until a loud rapping on the window brought them all to a stunned silence again.

No shaking, no lights exploding.

All was silent, only the frightened breathing of the teenagers could be heard in the large room.

One of the boys got up to open the blinds.

"Don't do it!" squealed the dark haired girl. "That's what happened in the stories, and everybody dies!"

"But we didn't do anything that they did in the stories"

"I think we did. I think we said her name, like, three times"

"Whose name? It's all rah, rah, rah, bullshit. You guys know that"

"She's right, don't do it!"

"Nah, don't worry, I told you, that's all total bull shit" he scoffed, reaching behind himself and pulled the blinds clear in one fell swoop.

The screaming of his class mates made him turn around to look behind himself, through the second floor window.

Into the eyes of a young girl, pale in features, dirty white dress.

Blood dripping from her eyes.

He screamed and screamed, until he felt his own blood start to drip, then he screamed some more….

X

Mr Hammerstead heard the screaming as he rounded the corner of the corridor. He knew it was probably a dead rat one of the boys was throwing at the girls, or something just as stupid.

He was already having a bad morning, with his power going out, he slept right through with no alarm to wake him, then finding a flat tire as he went to start his car.

He slammed the door to his class room open, in no mood to put up with any shenanigans, but the sight that greeted him set his bones to ice.

All of the children were screaming, and they were bleeding, from their eyes, their nose, their mouth…there seemed to be blood everywhere.

He looked towards the window and was confused to see another teenager outside.

They were on the second floor.

She must have balanced on the guttering.

She was also bleeding.

Worried, confused and certainly in a state of shock, Mr Hammerstead rang to the window and flung it open, grabbing the girl with both hands.

There was nothing of her, she was cold, bony and frail.

He pulled her through the window and pulled his jacket off, wrapping it around her frozen shoulders, then picked her up in his arms.

"Has anyone called nine one one?" he yelled to his kids, but they were too panicked, they just screamed and backed away from him.

He ran into the hall and bumped into other school staff who had finally heard the panicked screams coming from the class room.

"Call emergency, call nine one one!" he yelled.

The staff just looked at him, at the child he was holding, and backed up, away from him.

"What's wrong with you? These kids are dying! Call for help!"

They still backed away. One of them, a Mrs Browning from admin, pointed to the child Mr Hammerstead held in his arms.

Mrs Browning's face was white, and she trembled with fear.

Mr Hammerstead looked down at the child he was holding.

He screamed.

He screamed so hard his throat bled.

And yet, he continued to scream.

X

X

X

X

"Dean, we kinda need to figure out what Vikki is after."

Dean nodded, one hand on the back of his neck as he kneaded the tired, much abused muscles there. "Of course, Captain Obvious, I hadn't thought of that" He stood up and went to his jacket, retrieving his flask.

"What can she be after? She's got her own agenda, sure, but what?"

Sam rubbed his eyes. "Demons tend to follow orders, unless they're high up on the pay scale. So. Um. I don't get the feeling this Vikki is. But, we need to figure out why she's still loyal to her family. I mean, don't all those ties get broken in hell? When they're torturing the humanity out of someone, wouldn't she lose all interest in her kids, or what they do?"

Dean looked down at his brother. He unscrewed the cap off his flask and took a gulp.

"Yeah. They make you forget. Everything. No family, no friends, no comfort, no nothing." His voice was very quiet, his face pale. "But, then, after you, um, after you get out, well, I guess maybe she remembered. Or something triggered her to come back. I dunno."

Sam nodded. He hadn't meant to stir up those feelings in Dean. He hadn't meant to remind him of the time he must have forgotten his own brother, so tortured and agonized that not even his own name would be a memory.

"She did not remember"

Dean looked at Sam, then turned around to see Joanie sitting up, her eyes white.

"She did not remember them, Sam Winchester. You are right'

"Herman? Is that you, dude?" Dean asked.

Joanie smiled, but the smile was not her own. "My name is Hermanatie, boy, and you shall address me as such"

Dean raised a brow. "Yeah, sure, whatever, dude. Now get up to the table here and tell us what you mean"

Joanie shrugged. "Of course. As you and I are after the same resolution, our working together shall be mutually beneficial"

Dean pulled out a chair. "Fine. You want coffee?"

X

X

X

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The dark haired woman looked out over the windswept plans. She felt her heart grow heavy, her loss and sorrow overwhelming.

There were no words to describe how she was feeling, no way to undo what had been done. She was sure her actions would bring about the down fall of many a soul, and there was nothing she could so to stop it.

Not now. It was too late.

Way too late.

She had tried, god knows she tried.

But it hadn't worked.

"You think that, but you're wrong, honey" the voice behind her sent her spinning around, fear and shock making her eyes bright and her skin pale.

"You played a good hand, there, you know" the girl speaking to her was about half her age, curly brown hair framed her luminous green eyes and full, pouting lips in a heart shaped face.

"Who are you?" the dark haired woman gasped.

"Oh, Wendy, you know who I am" the young girl replied, and for a moment her eyes flashed red. "You called me"

Wendy shook her head. "No, I didn't. Not this time. Not for ten years"

The girl laughed. "Foolish, foolish thing. You sold your soul to me, and I told you, back then, all those years ago, the deal was binding. You couldn't get out. Nothing you could do would break it. See, I knew you were a clever thing and made sure that was in the terms and conditions. You did read the terms and conditions, didn't you?"

Wendy took a step backwards but didn't answer.

"You see, my dear Wendy, I had a feeling you'd try to pull something like this. Hell, I was counting on it! You know us, my dear, chaos and fear is our playground! And you, well, you have unleashed chaos onto this world in a big, big way…"

X

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><p><em><strong>AN...I need reviews. That's it. Nothing else. Except for cash...**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N...here we are again. New chapter... and drawing to a close...**_

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><p>x<p>

"What does that mean? What did this Wendy chick do?" Dean was sitting straddle on one of the office chairs, next to Sam, while Joanie sat ram rod straight opposite them.

"I shall tell you the story if you don't continue to interrupt. Can you still your tongue while I do this?"

Sam smirked and Dean frowned, but nodded and waved his hand for the possessed girl to continue.

X

"I didn't mean to do it. Not really. I was trying to break my deal" Wendy ran her hand through her hair. "I don't want to die. I don't want to go to hell. I don't. It's not fair"

The girl smiled at her. "So, in trying to save yourself, you are happy to condemn countless others to a painful, terrifying death, all so you can break you deal? You think, maybe, that wouldn't have condemned you to hell even if you had of broken your deal?"

Wendy shook her head. "No. No. I...oh God, I didn't think of that. But, you could undo what I have done. You're here now, and you have the power to stop it!"

"Wendy, Wendy, Wendy. Silly thing_! I make deals_. To make a deal, you have to have something I want. You do, but, honey, it already belongs to me. There's nothing else that you can possibly deal with. And the demon killing kids? Not my problem"

Wendy frowned, her eyes darting as she searched every corner of her mind, trying to think of a possible way out of her deal. She nodded, a plan forming in her panicked mind.

"I do. I have something. If you can stop what I've done, then I can give you something you want"

The girl smiled, and her eyes flashed brimstone read, just for a split second. "I'm listening"

"Well, the ritual I did tonight, it binds a demon into my service. I was hoping she would help me break the deal, not unleash a terror onto the world"

The demon girl started to circle Wendy, slowly, like a cat eyeing off its prey. "You did over reach there, just a little. The demon you bound was probably not the one you were aiming for, I'd say"

Wendy tied to remain focussed, though the circling demon was very unnerving.

"No, she was. See, I _knew_ she was powerful. I figured it would take that much power to break a deal. I just didn't think I'd lose control of her"

The girl nodded her head. "You didn't quite get the sigils right"

"You knew? You were watching?"

She laughed. "Of course I was! So close to collecting my chips, here, darling, and you did put on such an entertaining show!"

"Anyway, even though I don't have control over her, she's still bound to me. She still accepted servitude to me"

"Go on"

"Well, I can transfer that servitude to you. That way, you have control over her, and the spirits she raised up, to do with whatever you want. Everybody wins!"

The girl stopped her circling and tipped her head to one side. "Continue. Please"

"Well...um, I guess..." Wendy's eyes darted back and forth as she tried to formulate her pan. "The demon, she used to be a witch, a very powerful one. All of her relatives she raised up were witches, and they still have all of their knowledge and power. If you, I mean, if you could, you know, stop the demon I raised from killing all of the kids, well, I would bind her over to you. So you would have the demon, and the spirits she's taken control of to do whatever you bid them to do!"

The girl started to circle Wendy again. "So...let me get this straight. I get a powerful vengeance demon, bound to me for all eternity, as well as her clutch of restless spirits, all primed and ready to go, mine, all mine, to do with as I please?"

Wendy nodded, a beacon of hope growing in her breast. She was out. She'd found a way. The crossroads demon couldn't resist what she was offering.

"I gotta ask you something, though, honey" the girl purred, taking a strand of Wendy's hair and twirling it around her finger.

"Yes, anything!"

"What in hell would I do with a vengeance demon?"

Wendy felt her heart skip a beat.

"I mean, I'm more powerful than a vengeance demon. And I have a place in this world. I collect souls. I don't rend them asunder, to be picked up by any random reaper and deposited out of my reach. So, Wendy, my dear, I have to tell you" She stepped back, her eyes flashing red. "No deal"

Wendy gasped as the demon stepped back, and behind her, growling low, ominously, a hell hound appeared...

X

X

"So, what happened then?" Sam asked, caught up in the story.

Joanie turned to look at him, her head tilted in an odd, non human way. "With the death of Wendy, the vengeance demon Vikki and her hoard were freed from their binding, but not from their task. They wreaked havoc until they were stopped, but unfortunately they have been summoned again and again over the ages, and each time, I stop them, but it is not permanent."

Dean stood and stretched, his back popping with the strain. "So, Herman old man, what do you want us for? It's coz you can't get it up on your own, isn't it?"

Joanie's pretty face wrinkled in confusion. "I do not understand what you mean by that"

Dean walked around the table to his duffle and pulled out a whisky bottle to refill his flask. "I'm thinking you do, buddy boy. I'm thinking you've tried to stop these goons every time they've risen up, and you just aint got the juice to get the job done. You come close, but hey, no cigar"

Sam nodded. "Why do you care? Um, you're a demi god, why do you care what these guys do?"

Joanie looked at the table. "It is a humiliation for me. This woman bound me and used me. While that takes great power and skill, things for which I show respect, it also was demeaning and inconvenient. And, it seems, permanent. Until she is banished, I am still bound to her, to this realm. I am forced to follow. I am forced to inhabit this realm, unable to move on, unable to even draw on my full power."

Dean leaned back against the office wall. "And our girl Joanie? Why her?"

The demi god blinked the long black lashes of the girl he was wearing. "She does not know it, but she is powerful. She is the remnants of both the witches and my bloodline. This helps to amplify the little power I carry. It is how I have been able to destroy the spirits of the witches. Sadly, though, if they witches get their hands on this body, it will also bind their spell to vanquish me and retain their hold on their existence for all time"

"So why did you fling us all over the cemetery the first time we met?" Dean rubbed his eye, the swelling finally seemed to be subsiding.

Joanie shrugged. "I was angered. I acted in haste. It shall not happen again"

Sam nodded. "Okay. Good. Well. What do you want us to do?"

Joanie looked at him and she smiled. Her eyes, just briefly, glowed with a bright white light. "We shall defeat these troublesome women, for now and forever!"

"Yeah. We will." Dean absently rubbed his stomach. "Is anyone else hungry?"

X

X

X

X

Suzy walked to the end of the corner and waited as the police car pulled up. She opened the door and regarded the driver with confusion. "What are you doing in _this_ woman? Your sister was in her before!"

"Yeah, well, that stupid Hermanatie killed her. I have only used her again as she is easily accessible, being that she carries a trace of our bloodline. We are fewer in numbers, now"

Suzy nodded. "Yes. We are. But we can still make this work. The ritual is being prepared. We just need to get the woman, Joan, and we can bring this all to fruition. Our existence shall be our own. Never again will we be tied down, nor banished. Tonight, _tonight_ will be our triumph!"

The police woman nodded. "Where shall I take you?"

Suzy sighed. "We have to find Joan. I believe she would be with those men. The ones who are hunting us. We need to locate them, destroy them and take the girl."

"Do you have any idea where they are?"

"No" Suzy replied. "But I sent Cassie out to make a little trouble. That should bring them out into the open. Men such as these cannot help but to be heroes. They will try to overthrow Cassie, and in doing so, reveal themselves to us."

The police woman nodded. "What should I do?"

Suzy smiled at her, her eyes shining black. "Resume your duties as a police woman. I believe this will give you the best advantage to find these men, these hunters"

"Then, when I locate them, what should I do?"

"Destroy them. Without hesitation"

The police woman nodded and leaned forward to turn on the police radio. Straight away it started screaming at her.

_"Mc Coll, if you don't answer I'm sending out the search party!"_

She picked up the mic. "Mc Coll reporting in. Sorry, Sarge, I think my radio's a little fritzy"

_"Fine. We got trouble at the school. Haul ass over there. Well meet you there"_

She turned to Suzy who nodded at her. "And thus it begins"

The police car turned around, and let the young girl out, then took off down the road, lights flashing, as Suzy walked in the opposite direction. Before too long several more police cars and emergency vehicles passed her as she walked. She continued on until she was at the cemetery, there she met another girl, waiting at the gate for her.

They didn't speak or acknowledge each other, Suzy just walked through the gate with the other girl following her.

They walked through the cemetery, and even though it was early afternoon, the day had darkened, the weather turning for the worse. A soft mist started to fall, coating the leaves and grave stones, and trickle down the faces of the two girls as they came to their destination.

They stopped as they reached the mausoleum and clearing where the teenagers had summoned them. Standing in the middle of the circle of graves were several girls and a tall man.

He smiled as Suzy drew close. "You are here"

"I am" she answered. "Is this all that are left? Of twelve aunts, and my mother, you are all that is left?"

The man smiled. "My child, I will always be with you, now you have brought me back to fight by your side. We will end this tonight, and forever be free of our bindings"

Suzy touched the man's face. "Mother, dear, why do you wear a man? This is strange, for an age you have always chosen a woman, as did your sisters"

The man smiled. "This man has our blood lines. There are not many left. The woman of the police, and this man only. And of course, the woman Joan"

Suzy nodded. "You failed, earlier, when Hermanatie stopped your sisters in the town. He is more powerful when he wears the woman Joan. We do need to stop that happening again"

"We will, my dear child, we will. This time there is no room for any errors. We have prepared well"

The man turned and looked at the four girls he had in the centre of the circle of graves. The smiled at him, then nodded.

One by one, they started to bleed from their eyes, their noses and their mouths. They stood, one at each point, and let the blood flow freely from them, running down their bodies as it pooled in the centre of the concrete circle.

"Now all we need is the blood of the woman Joan" Suzy smiled. "All will be as it should be, then"

X

X

"Something is happening" Joanie frowned at the men before her. "I can feel them. They have done something bad, again. I must go"

Dean looked over at Sam, then back at the possessed woman. "You know this is a trap, don't you?"

She shook her head. "Most probably it is. But I must go. I do need to at least find out what they have planned, even if I do not take any action" she pushed back from the table and stood.

"Um, yeah, I think it might not be a good idea to take Joanie with you" Sam stood as well. "That's probably what they want"

"You are right. I shall leave her here and find out what has happened. I shall be back before much time has passed" with that Joanie threw her head backwards and a cloud of white smoke issued from her mouth.

It swirled around the ceiling and disappeared through a vent in the corner.

Sam lunged forward and caught the girl before she hit the ground.

She looked at him with wide, panicked eyes, then turned her head and threw up.

X

X

"Hey, Linda, did you find the creepy girl they're all talking about?" The young police man looked over at officer Mc Coll as she walked back into the school building.

"No, I think they all had a mass hysteria fit or something. You know, with all the creepy things that've been going on around here lately." She threw her arm around his shoulder. "Why don't you head back to the station? I'll finish up here"

"Thanks, Linda" he smiled at her and headed out of the large doors.

Police officer Linda Mc Coll looked around herself as she stood in the hallway of the school. The last of the ambulances and left, and her colleagues were pretty much finished taking statements. The hunters had not shown up.

She sighed. Vikki was not going to like this.

Not one bit.

She pulled out a cell phone and dialled. Before the call could connect she looked up as the young officer returned.

"What are you doing back here? I said you could go back to the station!" She smiled at him. "You're not parked in, are you?"

He shook his head and smiled at her. He pointed to the empty class room near them and walked inside.

Linda followed, confused.

"What's going on? Did you find something else?"

He just continued to smile at her, and shook his head. Behind Linda, the door slammed shut.

She frowned. "Who are you?"

The young cop tipped his head to one side and his eyes flashed white. "I am your father" he spoke softly, his smile wise beyond his years. "It is time for you to rest"

Linda smiled back at him. "Not so fast. I am prepared for you!" She raised her hands and held them, palm facing forward, above her head. On each palm was a symbol scratched deep into her flesh. She spoke three words in a murmured chant, then clapped her hands together.

The young officer fell like a rag doll to the floor.

Linda smiled and walked away, leaving the unconscious man to his own devices. Picking up her phone from her pocket, dialling as she walked, she ignored the shout from behind her as the collapsed policeman was found.

Instead she walked from the building and got into her car, driving away as she talked into the phone.

X

X

Dean opened the trunk of the car and threw the duffle in. Sam stood beside him, his face grim.

"You sure this will work, Dean?" Sam asked, his brow furrowed.

Dean slammed the trunk. "Nope. In fact, I'm fairly certain this will all go down in a steaming pile of you know what" he walked to the driver's door. "You got any better ideas?"

Sam shrugged. "Not that I've thought of in the last thirty seconds, no"

"Well, believe it or not, I might have" Joanie called from the doorway. "I think I have a great idea."

Dean shrugged. "Okay, I'll bite. What's your idea?"

Joanie gave them a sinister smile as a tiny drop of blood started to trickle from one eye like an errant tear. "What say I take you boys, and rip your guts out where you stand?"

X

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><p><em><strong>AN...now, you know how much I like reviews. I even reward those wonderful people who review me. People like my good friend Joan get a character named after them in the story...**_

_**Like Linda Mc Coll...**_

_**Give a really, really good review, I might even kill you bloody!**_


	12. Chapter 12

_**A/N... Nearly finished!**_

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><p>Joan raised her hands and both Dean and Sam fell to their knees, hands tearing at their necks, their breaths desperate gasps of panic.<p>

"Maybe I will just choke the life out of you" hissed the possessed woman. "Seems more fun. I mean, to watch you die slowly, rather than rip you up."

Sam rolled onto his side, his lips turning blue. Dean could only stare back, his own breath caught in burning lungs, spots starting to dance before his oxygen starved eyes.

He could see Joanie, her face twisted into an evil snarl as her outstretched fist commanded the closing of their airways.

He tried desperately to breath, but could feel the invisible clutch at his throat, the pressure building with eye bulging strength as he lay there slowly having the life strangled out of him.

"What is going on here?" a woman's voice called, though the brothers could not answer, they could not react, they could only lay dying on the asphalt of the abandoned car park.

Joan looked over at the approaching figure. She flicked one hand. "Leave us"

Dean tried to turn to see what happened to the unfortunate passer-by.

It was a woman, and she stood there, smiling, her shoulder length blonde hair framing her attractive face, her hands propped on her ample hips.

Joanie frowned. "I said leave us" and this time she threw her hand wide in a flinging gesture.

The woman did not move.

Dean gasped, but he could draw in no air. He felt consciousness begin to evade him when he heard the woman start to laugh.

"You don't even know who I am, do you?"

Joanie tipped her head. "No. And I don't care. Just leave us, and you won't get hurt"

The woman smiled at her. "Oh, I don't think so. I don't think so at all"

Dean couldn't hold hid grip on his fading view of the car park and slipped into darkness.

X

X

"_Dean. _Dean, wake up!"

He could feel hands shaking him, strong arms lifting him and dragging him, but couldn't quite bring his mind to focus.

_"Dean!"_

"Sammy?"

"Yes! Now shut up, look, see?" Sam had propped Dean against the car and pointed at the two women, Joanie and the passer by, as they stood facing each other.

"What happened?"

Sam crouched down beside his brother. "Nothing yet. They're just staring at each other"

"Who's the other chick?"

Sam shook his head and sat down beside Dean. "It's Hermanatie, isn't it?"

Dean shrugged and coughed, his lungs working just fine now, though his head still swum a little. "I guess. God knows we don't need another player this late in the game" He pulled himself upright and took a few steadying, deep breaths to clear his head.

They watched as Joanie tipped her head to one side, a snarl forming on her gentle face. "You are him, aren't you?" she snarled. "All these years you have been hounding us. Taking back what my mother took from you, aren't you? Well, you're too late, this time. Way too late. We have the girl, we have the spell, we have everything we need."

The blonde woman smiled. "Do you?"

"Yes, I do! Tonight, we will be free of you forever!" She moved forward, her hands raised. "You have little power when you don't possess this girl. I have her now, and I feel that I am _invincible_!"

The blonde woman just stood her ground, a hint of a smile playing across her face. "There is something you have forgotten about, my child" she spoke quietly, confidently, a chill of certainty threading through her voice.

Joanie raised her hands higher, her brow furrows with unseen effort. "And what is that, my demi god?"

The blonde woman held a hand out in front of herself and blew a small puff of blue powder at Joanie. "I am not your _demi god_" She smiled as Joanie collapsed on the ground.

Sam and his brother jumped up, ready to fight, when the blonde woman turned to them.

"I have not met you two gentlemen. What is your business with the witch?"

Sam looked at Dean in confusion, then back at the blonde woman. "Um..who are _you_?"

She raised a brow, looking the two men up and down, then a smile broke her features. "Ahhh...I know who you are. You are hunters. You are, are you not?"

Dean folded his arms. "You're the mother in law. I'm right, aint I?"

Realization spread over Sam's face. "Celia Goodwife! That's you?"

She nodded. "That is me. I am the wronged mother. My child was killed by his wife, the demon Vikki"

Joanie groaned and rolled onto her back. Sam noticed and moved to help her.

The blonde woman watched him. "She is fine. I have released the spirit from her"

Dean blew a whistle through his teeth. "So, we got the vengeful spirit here, I gotta ask you, are you on our side? Are you trying to top Vikki and her hoard?"

Celia nodded. "They killed my boy. That distasteful wench made a deal and my son was left a rotting corpse. She gets to walk the Earth while he lies in his grave!"

Dean nodded, his brow furrowed. "Not to pick at straws, here, but Vikki _did_ go to hell. That aint no picnic. And from what I hear, your son had a bit of a heavy hand with his missus. She didn't make the deal for nothing"

Celia glared at him, her eyes flashing with anger. "My son was not perfect, but he did not deserve to die! If I had known, if Vikki had just come to me, I could have helped, I could have intervened! But to make such a deal, to kill my only child, well...that is unforgivable!"

Dean nodded. "I hear you. I do. But you guys been going 'round in circles for centuries, now. We gotta stop all of this, and I need to know if you're fighting on our side, or got your own little game plan, there"

Sam helped Joanie to her feet, and she stood, wide eyed and shaking, watching Dean and the blonde woman as she held on to Sam for support.

Celia looked at Dean, her brows knit in concentration. "I agree with you. I am restless. Unresolved. And these girls, these witches, they are unforgiven. They shall always be unforgiven"

Sam lifted a brow to his brother in query.

Beside him, Joanie groaned loudly.

"You okay?" Sam asked her as he placed an arm on her shoulder.

"Seriously? I feel like a two dollar whore! You guys need to keep away from me!" Joanie stepped back a little, shrugging Sam's hand off her as she moved.

Celia looked at her. "You, my child, are all that is left of my son. You are the essence of what is lost." She stepped forward and looked into the sad, frightened eyes of the younger woman. "If we are successful then these women shall be laid to waste, and you shall be bothered no more"

Joanie frowned. "So, you're what, my distant grandma?"

Celia nodded. "That I am. You are my family. I shall fight to keep you safe"

Joanie looked doubtful, but nodded.

"What was that powder you had?" Sam asked her.

Celia reached into the pocket of the coat she was wearing and pulled out a brown paper bag. "These women are not the only ones who know how to bewitch the situation" she handed the bag to Sam. "This will shake a spirit out of a living body. It will keep the person whole and unharmed"

Sam opened the bag and sniffed at the contents, then wrinkled his nose at the smell. Looking up at Celia he frowned. "How come it doesn't affect you, then?"

Celia sighed. "This poor woman had already passed when I found her body. The spell work and powder only affects the living."

Dean looked up at Sam and shrugged. "I don't even want to know how you can do that. I'm just glad you're on our side"

"For now" Sam added, looking at the blonde woman. "What happens once this is over?"

"When we are finished here, I will leave. I will be resolved, so you need not worry." She nodded and turned to Dean. "I have only this one act of vengeance, of justice, and then it is over for me"

Dean tipped one eyebrow and nodded. "Well, I guess we'll deal with that part when we come to it. Now, Celia girl, tell me. Have you any idea where we can find Herman?"

X

X

The day had grown old quickly. The sky was dull, the light had faded to grey.

The cemetery carried a reverent hush, only the tumbled scratch of dried leaves breaking the silence.

The four girls stood at the clearing, their faces, bodies, and clothes soaked with blood.

Behind them stood the tall man and the younger girl, their expressions bored as they waited. Before too long a police car drove up close to the clearing, stopping at the mausoleum. Linda got out and popped the trunk. The man and the girl moved to help her.

"You found it?" asked the girl.

Linda shook her head. "No. I found another. It will do"

Suzy frowned, her hands on her hips. "Are you sure? How do you know?"

Linda looked at her. "Vikki, I don't know why you choose such young girls to be your meat suits." She pointed into the trunk. "The first alter was destroyed by local youths. This is as close as I can find, it is pure iron and it bears all of the correct sigils." She shrugged and tipped her head. "It's kind of strange, I know, finding another just like the one that was lost, but I am thinking the local people made another to either match or replace what was damaged. See, it is almost identical!"

The man walked pulled his sleeves over his hands so he could lift the small bench out of the trunk. He held it up before carrying it over to the centre of the clearing and sitting it on the concrete in between the four girls.

The bench was very ornate. Wrought iron had been twisted and fashioned in intricate spirals and sigils, encompassing a pentagram in the back rest. The legs of the bench almost perfectly fit the bolt holes from the previous bench.

"Do we need to fasten it down?" asked Cassie, her 'man suit' standing with arms on his hips, brow furrowed.

Linda shrugged. "I don't think so. It is not something that needs to be here for all time. Just for the ritual"

Vikki moved Suzy's body closer and sat on the bench. "It feels right." She nodded. "Yes, I can feel all of your bodies, buried below me. It's perfect"

Cassie moved her masculine frame over to the mausoleum and opened the chained gate with a tug. "I gathered everything earlier. We should, this time, be successful" The tall man carried a sack over to Vikki and placed it on the bench.

Vikki looked at the man's body her grandmother was wearing. "Are you sure you wish to be inside a male body? Once the ritual is complete, you will be housed in this man for all time"

Cassie nodded. "I think it will be interesting. Yes, I am sure"

Vikki stood up and started to unload the various herbs and items, mixing them and chanting and she laid them out in intricate patterns in the spilled blood of the possessed girls.

Cassie stood over the bench, frowning. "Where did you find this?"

Vikki stopped what she was doing and looked up at the tall man. "Why? What's wrong?"

"These sigils. They are... I am not sure, but I think they are not right. Can you see, here?"

Vikki tipped her head to one side, examining the bench. "Aunty, where did you find this bench?"

Linda shrugged. "Why? What is so wrong?"

"What's wrong, little girl, is that you took the bench from _my _grave!" Celia announced as she strode in front of her companions.

Vikki stepped back as Linda raised her hands, palms outwards with the scratched sigils showing.

Celia shook her head. "That will not work on me, foolish one. I am not who you think I am"

Vikki snorted. "Is that so?" She moved forward, a sarcastic grin of triumph on her features. "We know who you are. And we can tell you, oh mighty Hermanatie, that all is now lost, for you"

Celia ducked her head a little, on her face, the hint of a smile.

"You are not the first to make this mistake today."

Vikki frowned. "What?"

Linda and Cassie moved forward to flank her, anger growing in their eyes.

"_Your_ grave? Is that what you said?" Vikki frowned. "What do you mean, _your grave_?"

Celia smiled. "This is what I mean!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

X

Dean turned to Sam. "That's our signal!" He hefted his shotgun and stepped out from the mausoleum. The three possessed girls looked at him in surprise.

"What are you doing here?" Vikki spat at him. "You were taken care of!"

Dean grinned at her and winked. "Um, not so much" he cocked his shotgun and levelled it at her. "Seems we took care of _your_ girlie instead"

Vikki looked at the man beside her for support, and he nodded. "It must be true. Otherwise he would not be here"

Dean waggled one eyebrow. "Who's the boy? Got yourself a butch ghosite, there, have yah?"

Cassie stepped forward. "You are stalling"

Dean shrugged. "Well, you got me there, dykie ghost"

Cassie started to raise one hand.

He stopped, a look of confusion spreading across his face.

He turned to Vikki and Linda and saw the same confused look. "What are you doing?" he hissed.

Dean shook his head. "I aint doin' nothing" He looked over at Celia who was chanting softly, her hands waist height, palms facing down. At her feet a small light glowed. "Not me you had to worry about"

Suddenly a hand snaked around his throat, another grabbing at his gun, pulling it from his grip. As he bent his knees to throw the offender off his back they picked him up and with unearthly strength threw him into the side of the mausoleum.

"_DEAN!" _yelled Sam as he watched his brother collide with a sickening crunch against the brown marble.

Four girls stood there, facing him. They were all young, no older than their twenties, and all dressed in sports uniforms.

One marched towards Celia and Sam fired his shotgun at her, sending her flying off her feet as the other three rushed towards her, and the demon and her two companions rushed at him. "Oh shit" he gasped and cocked his weapon, firing it again as he took a step backwards.

The blast hit the male as the other two rushed him, too quickly for him to reload. He turned to run as they reached out to grab the hunter, murderous rage in their eyes.

x

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><p><em><strong>AN...a lot going on here, to the point of confusion, I know. Too many ghosties! I shoulda cut that number in half. **_

_**Please review?**_


	13. Chapter 13

_**A/N...only one more chapter! Later in the week, I have a busy weekend (I am going to a CON!) so can't write..I wil be able to tweet from there, I'm ucat42**_

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><p>Celia dropped the powder into the glowing flame at her feet and the three girls rushing towards her dropped in their tracks, as if slapped from their feet by an unseen force.<p>

Behind her the police woman Linda followed suit, slamming heavily into the concrete. Their bodies, along with the other girls and the man, bucked, crackled and glowed as the spirits within them died, put to rest for all time.

Sam gasped at the suddenness of their demise. He turned to speak to Celia when a growl turned him around to face the demon.

Suzy tackled Sam head on sending him crashing to the ground, his head hitting with a sickening thunk on the concrete.

A blast from a shotgun caught the demon possessed young girl and she screamed in pain. She threw her head back and smoked out as Sam pushed her from him, his head spinning and his focus slipping with the pain ricocheting around his head

"Sammy?" a weak voice called and he tried to sit, but the dizzying nausea caught him and he turned his head to vomit beside himself.

A strong hand rubbed his back and scooped his hair out of his eyes, then held his head as he closed his eyes and tried to stop the world from turning.

"Sammy?" Dean called, and Sam was confused as the voice came from in front of him, not from behind, where the hands continued to rub his shoulders in soothing circles.

He forced his eyes open and saw Dean, sitting propped against the mausoleum, his face a pale, greasy shade of green. A smoking sawn off was held upright in his hands.

"Dude, you look like shit" he croaked and Dean gave him a lop sided smile.

"Right back atcha, bro"

Sam felt strong hands lift him up, then hold him steady as he swayed and staggered. When he was able to turn his head he saw it was Joanie who held him, but the expression showed that Hermanatie was once again wearing the poor lady.

"You are all right?" Hermanatie asked him and he nodded, his eyes clamped shut for a second as a second wave of nausea swept over him.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay" he sighed and looked over at his brother.

Dean was still sitting there, and he didn't look good. Sam stumbled over to him and reached a hand down to help him up.

The injured hunter rolled his eyes up to his brother but didn't lift his hand.

"Dean?" Sam lowered himself down to squat beside his brother. "Dean, what is it?"

Dean was still sporting the lopsided smile, but his face had grown even paler. His freckles now stood out in stark contrast against the waxy back ground and his breaths seemed to be coming in shallow gasps.

"Think the bitch might have broken me a little" he groaned and Sam felt his stomach tighten in an icy knot as a tear of blood started to drip from one of his brother's ears.

"Dean...can you stand?" he gently touched Dean's shoulder, but a groan of pain made him pull his hand back. "How bad are you hurt, Dean?"

"He is damaged beyond repair" Hermanatie stood in front of the brothers. "He is crushed inside, and he will soon expire"

Dean looked up at the pretty woman. "Don't sugar coat it for me, now"

Joanie's face crumpled into a frown. "I would have been able to heal you, had we been successful here" She threw her hair back over her shoulder. "I would have been restored to my full powers"

Sam stood up. "How were we not successful? Celia ganked all of the ghosts with her spell!"

Hermanatie turned and looked at the fallen body of the woman Celia had been possessing. "She may also have destroyed herself along with the other spirits. But if we were successful, then I would be released. I am not. Of this I am certain" He turned back to Sam. "If I had my full powers I would be able to heal your brother"

Sam nodded. "How come it didn't work, Hermanatie? Celia did her part, and we covered for you while you worked your spell. What went wrong?"

Dean coughed and groaned, one hand slung across his chest, the other hanging limply at his side.

Sam turned, for a moment forgetting the demon possessed girl beside him as he fell to his knees before his brother. Gently placing a hand on Dean's chin he tipped his brother's head up so they could see eye to eye.

"Dean? Um, I think we should get you outta here" he spoke quietly, trying to hide the concern from his face as he watched Dean's eyes roll a little, trying to focus on his own. "I can carry you. If you can't walk, that is"

Dean was breathing raggedly, his chest barley moving as he gasped shallow mouthfuls of the cold air. He blinked forcefully, trying to bring his brother into focus.

"Sammy?" he whispered. Sam leaned forward a little closer and took Dean's hand in his. "Ahhh...Sammy. I don't think I can move. I mean..." he coughed and then grimaced with pain. "I don't think there's time"

Sam frowned. "Dean, what?" Don't tell me you're dying. Don't. Don't" He sniffed and scrubbed at his nose with the back of his hand. "Don't you do that. Don't"

Dean scrunched his brows together in a semblance of a frown. "What? Geez, you big girl. I only meant" he coughed again, and this time drops of blood splattered his jeans "Behind you"

Sam turned his head to see Linda begin to stand up, her face twisted in anger as she shook herself off and stood tall, her eyes starting to drip with blood.

Behind her, where the young girls had been positioned to bleed out, another girl stood, her legs a little shaky at first as she started to lunge towards the hunters, her arms outstretched.

Linda growled, the low, guttural sound filled with anger and hate. She was moving forward, her palms raised, the scratched symbols still clear on them.

"Before, she did this same thing to me. I was rendered inert for hours!" Hermanatie stepped backwards, nearly tripping over Dean's feet.

Sam grabbed up the shotgun his brother had dropped and fired a round of salt into the approaching police woman.

She fell backwards as he let the other barrel go on the blood soaked girl.

She dropped like a dead weight, unmoving, as the police woman sat up, her hands again outstretched as she started to chant.

Sam let her have both barrels and this time she lay still.

"Thought we killed all of the spirits" Sam gasped as he re loaded the gun.

Hermanatie shook his head. "We had miscounted. There were _so many_ of them" he pointed to the girl that had rushed them. "I had thought those girls were all destroyed. We missed... how many?"

Sam walked over to the police woman.

She lay sprawled on her back, bleeding from the many pellets of salt that had cut into her skin, but she was breathing.

"I'm thinking there were two here, but not demons, just spirits" He turned back to Dean and gasped when he saw his brother had slumped over.

He squatted down beside him and lifted his head. "Dean?"

The bright green eyes were closed, and the full lips were turning blue.

_"DEAN!"_

_X_

_X_

_X_

_X_

The gas station had been busy all afternoon, and now, as the sun had decided it was time to retreat for the day, she finally found enough of a break to sweep up and count the register money.

She sighed, a soft, bored sound that drifted off into the ether of nothingness that surrounded her.

It wasn't that she hated working here.

Certainly, she was grateful for the job. Lord knows, she wasn't qualified for anything.

Except getting pregnant at fifteen.

Now, here she was, a seventeen year old mother, high school dropout working in a gas station during the day, trying to go back to school at night, whilst looking after an energetic two year old.

Life didn't suck, exactly, but it was a lot harder than she thought it would be.

A soft buzzing noise caught her attention and she frowned, looking around to see if she could place where it was coming from.

The lights started to flicker, and the radio turned itself on with a loud crackle that made her jump.

Suddenly a plume of thick, black smoke shot out of the ceiling vent, heading straight towards her.

She opened her mouth to scream but did not get the chance.

X

A loud knock on the motel room door gave Sam a start, and he looked up at Joanie, as she stood next to the window. "Hermanatie." Sam hissed. "Look through the peep hole. See who it is"

Hermanatie turned and opened the door.

A small middle aged woman stood there, her hair disheveled, one shoe missing, and her blouse was unbuttoned right to the waist.

Sam pointed the shot gun at her. "Who are you?" he demanded.

She frowned. "It is Celia. I am...somewhat confused"

Hermanatie took her arm and led her into the room, closing the door behind her.

"What's wrong? Why are you confused?" Sam pulled a chair over from the small table for her to sit down.

Celia turned to look at him, her eyes wide. "The spell I wrought to destroy the spirits affected me a little more than I had hoped. I am recovering, but it is taking it's time"

Sam grabbed another chair and sat opposite her. "Um, Celia? What went wrong? Why didn't you kill of the spirits?"

She sighed and looked down at herself. "This body has not connected with me yet. I am unable to..." she waved a hand at her open blouse.

Sam blushed. "I..ah...um" he looked over at Hermanatie. "Um..."

Celia snorted. "Just do up the buttons, boy. This body is deceased. I found it at an accident scene. They were not happy when I walked away, but they shall recover the body when this is finished."

Sam leaned forward and hastily did up the open blouse. "What about your shoe?"

She shrugged. "I care not, either way." The disheveled woman looked over at the bed. "What ails your brother?"

Sam frowned. "He was injured. Very badly. Look. We need to finish this, and soon, or he's gonna die"

Celia nodded. "Yes. I believe you"

Hermanatie stepped a little closer and pulled a chair over to join them. "Why did you not kill the other spirits?"

"I had thought we had all of them. I did not realize there were two more that were not at the cemetary. For this, I am sorry. However, all is not lost" She looked towards the demi god. "You have kept possession of this girl. That is good"

Hermanatie nodded. "It would be difficult now if they took her. We do not need things to be difficult" He looked at Sam. "We need to form a plan and execute it quickly. There is little time to waste"

Celia coughed and looked a little surprised that she had done that. "I need more of my powder. Do you still have the bag?"

"Yes, I do" Sam stood and retrieved the paper sack from the pocket in his jacket that he'd thrown on his bed. "What else do we need?"

"We need to summon them. And we need to destroy them" Hermanatie stood and walked over to the table. A large metal bowl sat in the middle of it. "Are we ready? Are you strong enough, Celia Goodwife?"

She nodded and stood up. "I am ready. We should now commence"

"Yep. Sure. Just a sec" Sam ran a hand through his hair. "I just wanna check on my brother first"

Sam leaned over the prone form on the bed. Dean was breathing, but barely. His color was a pale grey and he felt cold.

His stomach was distended and Sam could only imagine that he was bleeding internally.

He touched Dean gently on the forehead.

If he couldn't hear the soft gasps of air Sam would think him dead. He was still and cold, a fine sheen of greasy seat covering his face making his skin look plastic.

Dean's eyes flicked open, but they were unfocused, the pupils looked huge. He groaned softly.

"Dean?" Sam whispered. "How're you doing?"

Dean's eyes rolled as he struggled to find his brother.

"Dean?"

The green eyes closed and Dean lay still. Sam laid a hand on Dean's arm. "We're taking care of this. Hold on. Just….hold on"

He walked back to the table and looked at the pretty face of the possessed Joanie. "Okay. Let's get this show on the road"

Hermanatie held one hand over the bowl and sliced deep into the palm with a knife, letting the blood drip onto the herbs and bones there.

The bowl was in the middle of the table, and surrounded by a precisely chalked symbol. Hermanatie softly chanted in a strange language that Sam had not heard before and the contents of the bowl ignited in a bright flash of green flame.

Celia held her hand out to Sam to help her up and he moved her against the bedpost. She leaned against it and nodded.

The tall hunter held the knife from Ruby in one hand and a shotgun in the other. Looking up, he checked the chalked devil's trap on the ceiling, and then noted the same barely coved by a mat in the middle of the floor.

There was a thick layer of salt at the only window, and a container beside the front door.

They were ready.

He chanced a quick glance behind him at Dean, but his brother had not moved. From where he stood he could not tell if Dean was even breathing.

He turned back to the door.

Hermanatie finished his chant with a flourish and spat into the bowl, extinguishing the flame.

The room went dark, all lights blackened for a moment, then they flickered back on.

To reveal three girls, standing in the middle of the room.

Hermanatie turned in one swift movement and salted the doorway.

He turned to face the girls. "Which of you is Vikki?"

The girl standing in the middle cocked her head to one side and her eyes turned black. "Tear him limb from limb" she snarled and the two girls lunged at the possessed woman.

Celia had been working her little spell over on the side and she clapped her hands together as the girls lunged.

As before, they both dropped mid stride, their bodies flickering and crackling with the destruction of the ghosts inside them.

Vikki screamed. "_My aunts! You have killed all of my aunts!"_

She lunged at Hermanatie but the devil's trap kept her bound. She snarled at him, her eyes black as rage twisted the young face of the girl she was wearing.

Hermanatie stood before her with the bowl, about to throw its contents at her when she laughed.

"I wouldn't, if I were you"

Joanie's eyebrows knitted as she lowered the bowl. "Why not?"

Vikki twirled in front of them, the gas station uniform flapping as she spun. "See this pretty girl? This petite meat suit? Well, grandfather, this little thing is a mother. She has a child. Kill me and you'll kill her. The child shall be an orphan"

"I care not" Hermanatie again held the bowl up to throw it at her.

"No! Stop!" Sam held up the shot gun. "You can't kill her!"

"Why not? This must be brought to a close, Sam Winchester." Hermanatie nodded towards the bed. "If we do not destroy this demon, then I am unable to heal your brother"

Sam chewed at his lip, his brow furrowed with worry lining his eyes. "I can exorcise her" He nodded. "I can send the bitch back to hell"

"Perhaps. However that will not undo the binding that has been placed on me. I will not be released. Your brother shall expire"

Sam drew a deep breath, aware the young girl was watching him. "She's innocent. A young girl. Dean would never forgive me"

Vikki smiled. "That's right, boyo. You can't kill me. A young girl, with two year old boy. You wouldn't want him to grow up without a mother, would you? Not _you_, of all people?"

Celia walked over to Sam and grabbed the knife out of his hand. "He may not want to kill you, but there is nothing stopping me!" she announced as she lunged at the young woman.

-0-

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><p><em><strong>AN... reviews make me all fluffy...**_


	14. Chapter 14

_**A/N...Yup, here we are, at the end. Really, truely...**_

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><p>Celia lunged at Vikki with the knife as Sam grabbed at her, holding her from stabbing the demon.<p>

Vikki threw her head back and laughed. "I have won, have I not? Oh, this is too amusing. Too, too funny"

Sam pushed Celia behind him. "Funny, is it? Look. You had how many, twelve aunts? Your grandmother? They're all dead. You're alone, now. Forever" Sam looked over at Hermanatie who still held the bowl aloft, but had a confused look on his face. "You might have won today, but what's it got you? Really? You'll be all alone forever"

Vikki shrugged. "But that's what I am. Alone. I wreak vengeance, and I do it alone. I don't really care if my family is with me or not"

"If that was true, you wouldn't have joined them every time they were brought back"

"I was bound to them. But they are no more, so I am free."

Hermanatie lowered the bowl. "You are not free. You are still bound, as am I"

"I am not. How can I be bound when they are dead?"

The demi god sat the bowl on the motel bed. "The same way I am bound. The summoning that first drew you, first contained you into service, it has not failed or faded. In fact, I wonder, even if I did vanquish you now, if I would be released" He frowned and turned to Sam. "There is something here that is not quite right"

Sam looked at Hermanatie. Celia stepped forward. "What are you saying? Are you saying that there is another spell?"

Hermanatie tipped his head to one side. "I do not think this is the demon we have been fighting with. I do not believe this is Vikki"

Celia stepped forward. "What? What do you mean?"

Sam pushed her back behind him. "What _do_ you mean, Hermanatie?"

"You remember the story I told you at first? About the woman Wendy who bound the demon?"

Sam nodded. "You think this is Wendy?"

"I do not" Hermanatie turned and grabbed a small handful of potion from his bowl and threw it at the girl held within the devil's trap.

She screamed and fell to the floor, writhing in pain. Sam stood there, opened mouthed and in shock as she twisted in agony, screaming and crying.

"No smoke arises from her" Hermanatie pointed to her. "She is pretending to be in pain. I believe this is the cross roads demon that made a pact with Wendy"

The girl stopped moving. She sighed then sat up. "Okay. You got me. I'm not Vikki." She stood and brushed herself off, then tipped her head to one side. "What gave me away?"

Hermanatie moved closer to her. "You smell different. You stink more than the other one" He turned to Sam. "Exorcize this one. She is wasting our time"

Sam opened his mouth but before he managed more than a syllable the girls started to laugh. "Silly boy. I am more powerful than that" She stamped her foot and the floor shook, and above her the ceiling cracked. The devils trap was broken.

She threw back her head and white smoke billowed from her mouth, speeding into the crack in the ceiling and disappearing.

The girl crumpled into a heap on the sticky carpet.

For a moment there was silence in the small motel room.

Sam turned to the demi god with a question formed in his eyes.

Behind him he heard Celia groan. "So…who was that demon, then?" she asked.

"Not only that" added Sam. "How come Vikki wasn't summoned by your spell?"

Hermanatie turned to the bowl and picked it up. He sniffed the contents and turned back to Sam. "Everything here is correct. This should have drawn the witch demon."

Sam turned to Celia. "Can you tell if we were dealing with Vikki the whole time, or this demon?"

Celia shook her head no. Hermanatie put the bowl back on the bed.

"Sam" A feeble voice croaked form the far bed, drawing the tall hunter to his brother's side in two steps.

"Dean? What is it?"

Dean was gasping for air, his skin cold and clammy. "It's okay, Dean, we're going to get you well. I promise"

Dean lifted one hand a little, but he had no strength to maintain the action and it dropped limply back onto the bed. His eyes were open only the smallest of slits and Sam could see him struggle to talk.

"Dean, don't. It's okay. I know you're hurting"

Hermanatie sighed loudly. "We cannot hope to heal him if you stand there and tend to him. We must figure out how to resolve this situation!"

Sam turned and glared at him, his expression so fierce the god slammed his mouth closed.

He turned back to Dean. "I gotta go, okay? I gotta figure this one out"

Dean drew a shaky breath. "Smoke" he breathed.

Sam's brows scrunched as he tried to figure out what his brother wanted. "Smoke? Dean, I don't…." He gasped. "You're right. The smoke!" He stood up from the bed and turned to the two beings behind him. "The smoke was different colors!"

Hermanatie looked to Celia then back at Sam. "I have no idea what you are talking about"

"Look. When Vikki smoked out before she was black. This time she was white. The only time we've seen anything like that was with you, Hermanatie. No other demon has ever gone for any smoke color than black"

Celia nodded. "You think there is another demon in town? That they are helping Vikki?"

Dean coughed and Sam turned back to his brother. No words were spoken, but something passed between the two. Sam nodded.

"Maybe. Hard to say"

"Surely you have a theory" Hermanatie frowned. "But….you have never seen a demon smoke out in white…only me?"

Sam nodded. "Only you. So I'm thinking, I mean, my brother was thinking, and I kind of agree with him" He flung the contents of his flask of holy water at Hermanatie and the possessed woman fell back, with smoke hissing off her as she howled in pain. "See, we're thinking that you're not the demi god at all" Sam threw more water at the smoking figure. "My brother thinks that maybe you're Vikki, and you and Hermanatie have been working together all along"

The demon stopped when she hit the mat that had covered the space near the small kitchenette. Sam turned and grabbed Celia, throwing her in powerful lunge at Joanie.

"You? I'm not so sure of. But you're not a spirit, are, you?"

Celia glared back at him.

"If you were just a spirit, you could walk straight off that mat. The devil's trap I painted under it won't affect you"

She continued to glare, but didn't move.

Sam looked over at Dean. The injured hunter was lying prone, but his eyes were open as he watched what unfolded. He looked back at the pair. "The ritual didn't work because Vikki was already here, wasn't she?"

The demons didn't answer.

"I think I have Vikki, and I might have the cross roads demon. I'm right, aren't I?"

Celia shrugged. "So? Doesn't make you smart. Or a winner. There's only so long you can keep us trapped here."

Sam nodded, his lips thin. He picked up the potion bowl from the bed. "See, I don't need to keep you trapped here. I helped make this potion, and I_ know_ it'll work. On Vikki, anyway" He sniffed the herbs. "Should I try it out on you? I know it won't work on whoever is in Joanie, but you" He nodded towards the disheveled woman "you, I'm guessing, it would vanquish. Shall I try it out?" He flung a small grab of the dry powders and herbs at the demon and she screamed as it hit her, the places the potion landed catching fire and leaving deep scorch marks.

He picked up another hand gull and she raised her hands. "Don't. Don't do it. It'll kill me"

Joanie turned to her. "Stop speaking" she commanded.

The other demon looked back at her, eyes wide and desperate, but her mouth clamped shut.

"So, what, you're the cross road demon?" Sam flicked his head a little behind him. "My brother thinks you are. Why the game? Why pretend to be the demi god? I don't get it"

"Alright, young man, all right. I see you're quite the clever one, and you've seen through our little game" Joanie clapped her hands slowly, her whole persona now changed once it became apparent that she was not Hermanatie. "It was a perfect way to make you believe that you had vanquished us. That this was over, and you'd leave town" She rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "We damn near had you convinced, too. If that squished up brother of yours hadn't worked out the different smoke colors you would have thought me gone, and your hunt would have been over""

"You would have let Dean die"

She sighed and pushed her long hair over her shoulders. "Yeah. So sad." She looked at Sam and her eyes flashed red. "Well, your brother may be dying, but his brain still seems to work okay."

"Why would we have thought the hunt over?" Sam's brow was creased as he tried to understand the plan. "If we lost you, we still would have had Vikki to find"

"Oh, we had a whole elaborate scenario worked out. It was good, too. But, you see, it doesn't really matter now. We've been caught out, haven't we?" She shrugged. "Well, Sammy boy, tell me, what deal do you want to make for me to get outta here?"

Sam sat on the edge of the bed. "Don't call me Sammy" He sat the bowl on his knee. "And who says I'm going to make a deal?"

The demon shrugged. "You humans are always willing to make a deal. And based on past history, the Winchesters like to do that even more than anyone else"

Sam crossed his legs but didn't answer.

"C'mon, boy. There's something you want. Your brother healed? A new car? Money? Sex? Dignity?"

Sam cocked an eyebrow. "First, before we talk deals, I need to know a coupla things"

"_Sam"_ The soft voice from the bed was fading. Sam didn't react because he knew his brother was worried.

Worried he'd make a deal.

"Well, then, sweetheart, what do you want to know?"

"Are all the spirits and ghosts vanquished?" Sam casually placed one hand on the bowl beside him.

The demon hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "They are all gone. Really gone. Celia wiped them out."

"So, Celia really was here? Where is she?"

Joanie shrugged. "Don't know. Don't care."

"And Hermanatie? Where is he? Why is he working with you?"

Joanie's eyes narrowed and she frowned. "Well, he wasn't, not at first. You see, he really _is_ bound to Vikki, who, for her part, is bound to me. Kinda like a supernatural three way." She paused and smiled at her own little joke. "Once I found out he was working with you two, well, I couldn't have that, could I? Plus, the benefit of fucking you guys around. Always a bonus in my books"

Sam sighed. He leaned back a little, his brow creased in concentration.

Finally, one eyebrow cocked, he gave the demons a short nod. "Okay. I'm ready to deal"

"_Sammy, no" _Dean gasped from behind him.

Joanie grinned at him and her eyes flashed red for a brief moment. "Excellent. Wonderful. Just tell me what you need"

"Heal my brother. Completely. No hidden clauses or catches, okay?"

Joanie shrugged. "That's a big ask. Normally I'd get a soul for that, Sam"

"Bad luck. This time you get a free shot from the trap. That's it."

He reached behind himself and pulled the demon killing knife from the back of his waist band.

"You wouldn't kill this girl. I know that. You're bluffing" Joanie folded her arms.

Without missing a beat Sam stood and flung the full bowl of herbs at Vikki, stepping back as it ignited the possessed corpse and burnt quick and hot, in only a moment she was no more than ash.

Joanie stood there, her face white and mouth hung agape. She looked back at Sam.

"If you think I value the girl you're wearing more than my brother, you'd better think again" Sam's voice was low and menacing.

Joanie started at him. Sam held the knife before him, the tip pointed at Joanie.

She nodded and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them she nodded. "Okay. He's healed. Good as new. Now let me out"

Sam turned to his brother. Dean was still lying down, but his color had returned to his cheeks and he was breathing a lot better. His eyes were clear and bright. He sat, slowly, stiffly, like he was sore after a long day's working out, but when he finally swung his legs over the side of the bed he looked better.

Stronger.

He looked at Sam, his brow knitted tight, his lips thinned with determination in his eyes.

"Can you stand?" Sam asked.

Dean ducked his head a little. "Almost"

Sam turned back to the demon. "Thanks"

She coughed a laugh back at him. "It wasn't a favor, jumbo boy. It was a deal. Now you keep your end up" She looked between the brothers and then folded her arms again. "You had better _not_ be thinking you'll double cross me" She pointed at Dean. "You break your end, he'll be dead before I am. _I shit you not_"

Sam shook his head. "No. Um, yeah, okay. Wasn't thinking of breaking the deal. I just wanna ask you something"

She looked angry, but nodded. "What? And hurry up, boyo. Time's a wasting"

"Hermanatie. Is he free, now? Or is he still bound to you?"

"Not your concern. And not part of the deal. Now let me out. I kept up my part of the bargain, you better keep up yours"

Sam tuned back to check with Dean. He was still sitting, and he closed his eyes and gave a single nod of his head.

Sam moved towards the demon and scrubbed a break in the devil's trap with his shoe. As soon as the line was broken the demon smoked out of Joanie and the girl fell into a seemingly lifeless heap on the floor. A soft moan escaped her parted lips, the only indication she had survived this ordeal.

X

X

X

X

The last rays of sun were caressing the landscape, the golden light filtered through the low hanging branches of a weeping willow and danced across the gravel road.

A young woman crouched in the middle of the crossroad, covering up a small hole, she used her hands to scrape the gravel back in place.

Standing, she looked around, the sun glinting off her shiny blonde hair as she slowly turned to look around herself, searching for something.

"Well well well, what have we here?" a woman's voice spoke from behind her and she turned, one hand at her throat in surprise.

"Is it you?" the young blonde woman asked, looking at the dark haired, attractive woman before her. "You're a cross road demon?"

The dark haired woman's eyes flashed red. "That's right, honey. Just what the doctor ordered. So, you sweet little thing" she moved around the girl, appraising her. "What can I do for you?"

The blonde girl stepped back a little. "Um, you can, I mean, um, if I asked…"

The demon laughed. "Come now, girl, no need to be nervous. Let me see, your name is Miranda, am I right?"

The blonde girl nodded.

"Well, Miranda, you summoned me for a reason. You want something, you need something. Is it something special? Something very hard to get?"

Miranda nodded, still stepping backwards. "Can we, um, can we go over there, in the shelter? I don't want anyone to see us" she pointed towards a dilapidated three sided shed sitting forlornly off to the side.

"Of course, sugar. I don't mind" She turned and stepped into the shelter, and was surprised when the blonde girl didn't follow her. "Come now, girly. You called me. That means you really, really want something, right?"

Miranda nodded.

"So tell me, then, what is it you really want?"

Miranda smiled, and her smile was that of a much older, much more confident woman. "I have what I want. You. Stuck in a devil's trap" she looked up at the roof of the shelter.

The demon followed her gaze and gasped when she saw the spray painted pattern above her head. "_What's going on here?"_ she snarled.

Miranda winked at her. She turned around and waved at someone unseen, then turned back to the demon. "We couldn't let you go, you know"

"We? Who is _we_?"

"Ah, that'd be us!" the handsome young man called as he moved into sight, his tall brother beside him.

"Dean Winchester. And his lackey Sam" The demon huffed out an annoyed sigh. "What are you two trying to achieve this time?"

"Well" Sam moved closer. "We tried to modify the potion that killed Vikki, see if we could get it to work on other demons"

"It didn't" Dean smiled broadly. "But you probably knew that, or you wouldn't have given us the recipe in the first place"

"I'm not stupid" the demon spat back at them.

Sam stepped a little closer. "I wouldn't be too sure about that. You did let a dead girl summon you"

Miranda stepped forward. "Celia Goodwife. Not Miranda" she shook her head. "Miranda is dead. Any good demon should have been able to tell that"

"And, just so you know? We checked. If you die, Hermanatie is freed from his servitude to you" Sam pulled the knife from his jacket. "Only when you die"

The demon's eyes flashed red and her face twisted in rage. "You forgot something" she snarled at the trio in front of her. "Hermanatie is still in my power, right now" she slapped her hands together and a tall young man appeared.

"Um, no, we didn't." Dean winked at her. "We found powerful spell that would give us temporary control over him, but only if _you_ summoned him"

Sam handed Hermanatie the knife. The young man looked at it and smiled, then turned with one quick thrust and plunged it deep into the crossroad demon's chest.

The dark haired woman gasped and fell into Hermanatie's arms as she bucked and shook when the demon within her died, the sparks and crackles quickly dissipating to nothing.

Hermanatie pulled the knife out of her chest and let her fall. He wiped the blood off the blade onto his trouser leg and then dropped it to the ground. Turning to the men before him he bowed his head before lifting it to show the gratitude in his eyes.

"I am endowed to you" he said. "I am at last free of the demon's control over me"

Sam cleared his throat. "You'll keep to your promise? Joanie is free, you'll leave her alone?"

Hermanatie nodded. "I shall keep to my promise. I shall not take her as the last survivor. But she, in turn, must keep to her promise and not bear a child"

Sam nodded. "Yeah. She said she would, and I think, given all she's seen, that she will"

Dean walked over to the knife and picked it up. "So, Herman old boy, what's in store for a finally free demi god?"

He turned but the tall man was gone. "What, no good bye?" He called, but there was no answer.

Celia sighed. "My time here is over" she told the hunters.

"Are you sure?" Sam asked her, but she sighed again and fell to the ground. He leaned forward and felt her throat. "She's dead."

"I guess her time _was_ over, then" Dean turned and looked around at the deserted area surrounding the cross roads. "Is this job finally over?"

Sam shrugged. "I guess. Yeah. We just gotta let Joanie know, and then, yeah. Done"

Dean yawned. "Good. Coz I need me some sleep. After I eat. And pie. I could use me some pie." He looked over at the dead bodies. "All right, let's clean up here"

X

X

X

X

"So you guys heard about the freaky things happening in that town where all the kids died?" Melissa, the bright eyed fifteen year old looked into the faces of her captive audience, her seven closest friends, all in the games room for a sleep over at her house.

"Oh my god, yeah, it was terrible!" her bestest friend of all time, Annaliese, agreed. "They said the name of the witch, what was it?"

"Cassie Winters?"

"Yeah, that was it! They said her name three times over, like _Cassie Winters, Cassie Winters, Cassie Winters_, and they all like, they died!"

"No, that wasn't it" Melissa admonished. "It was Celia Goodwife backwards. Like, Goodwife Celia, Goodwife Celia, Goodwife Celia"

"And how did they die?"

"Something kinda scratched or knocked at the window. When they opened the curtains they saw the ghost of the witch, looking back in. They all, like, bled out of their eyes and mouths and everything" Annaliese explained.

Silence fell over the group.

"Wow, that's a boring story" One of the other girls moaned. "Let's go have ice-cream"

A scratching at the window silenced her. The girls all looked at each other in wide eyed fear.

"That's how the story went" whispered Annaliese.

The scratching returned, this time louder.

The girls squealed, bringing Melissa's mother running into the room. "What's going on here?"

"We told the witch story, now she's scratching at the window!" sobbed Melissa as the girls clung to one another in fear.

"Oh pwash, that's just a silly story" Melissa's mother said, and turned as the scratching resumed.

She walked to the window and flung back the curtains as the girls screamed in abject terror.

There, peering in, slightly bedraggled from the misty evening air, stood Harold, the family cat.

Melissa's mother opened the window to let him jump in, then pulled the curtains tight behind him.

"You girls are a pack of silly-billies. Now come on, I'll get you all ice-cream" she said and ushered the giggling, excited girls from the games room.

It was going to be a long night, with eight sugared up teens all sleeping in the downstairs room together. Melissa's mother sighed. At least whatever had happened two towns across to all those poor kids was over, and she could spend the night listening to these teens laugh and talk, instead of hearing the blood curdling screams those other parents must have heard…..

X

X

X

"Well, thank you again" Joanie leaned in the window of the car, her long hair brushing against Sam's thighs.

"No problem. It's what we do" Sam smiled back at her as his brother started the engine. "You gonna be okay? I mean, with not having kids and all?"

Joan brushed her hair back and gave him a sad smile. "It was an easy bargain for me. I was born with a congenital condition that meant I can't ever have kids. It's hereditary, a recessive gene. Probably what started this whole thing in the first place, when Cassie couldn't have kids. And believe me, I'm not going to make any deals with anyone"

Dean nodded. "Especially as the god that can give you a kid happens to be Herman. And I think you don't wanna call him back any time soon"

Joanie smiled. "And, don't take this the wrong way, I hope I don't have to call you guys back, either!" She pulled her head back from the window. "Thanks for everything, and the lift back home. So, what happens with you guys now? Another town, another ghost?"

Sam gave her a down turned smile. "Maybe just the apocalypse"

She laughed, but stopped when she saw that both men looked serious. They waved as they drove off, but |Joanie was left with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach…

The apocalypse?

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN... Don't forget Joan, this one was for you!**_

_**So, reviews would be nice. Just coz the story is over, don't mean I don't crave them like no one's business! And, for the first time ever, I DON'T leave you with another story to go on with. For those that have not read my other stories, please do. **_

_**And don't forget over on fictionpress dot com are my original stories, also under ucat42, also my stories with Maddie Beaver. Kiddie stories, but you know, if you're an SPN fan, you know her dad, can't hurt to read the kid's stories. Just search for Maddie10 with ucat42.**_

_**I figure enough people are writing fanfic, and as I don't get many reviews, I can take the hint, so I will now retire from writing these stories...**_

_**Thank you all for taking the time to read them. And the few that left me a kind words, I humbly thank you from the bottom of my heart, your words meant so much to me. **_

_**_**Nice to have had you in my secret little world, here.**_**_

_**Really, really ...**_

_**ucat42**_


	15. Chapter 15

**Madman Across The Water.**

Please indulge me just a little, here. I have something exciting to tell you.

I am now a published author!

My book was written due to the encouragement and support of my wonderful readers here. It also encloses a dedication to Supernatural in the acknowledgments. Please have a look at it, and if you find it in your heart to buy a copy I would be forever grateful.

And for all of those FanFic writers out there, take heart! WE CAN WRITE! I did it, you can, too!

Here is a link to the book on Amazon:

Madman-Across-Water-Caroline-Angel/dp/1512288543/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?ie=UTF8&keywords=madman%20caroline&qid=1432947971&ref_=mp_s_a_1_2&sr=8-2


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